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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

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LIFE 



OF 



JOHN WESLEY. 



BY THE REV. B. W. BOND, 

Of the Baltimo7-e Confere?ice. 



With an Introduction by Bishop A. W. Wilson, D.D. 



4i Methodism is Christianity in Earnest.' 1 



NASHVILLE, TENN.V^W , _ 



SOUTHERN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE. 

.Sw nday-school Defia rtmen t. 

18S5. 



t UitABY ] 
or COMQBESS 

IWAKHlOTOwl 



A ^5 

3 ^ 



Entered, according to Act of Congi'ess, in the year 1885, 

By B. W. BOND, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 






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EDITOR'S NOTE. 

The author has so grouped the leading events in the life 
of Mr. Wesley as to present in a small compass a fair and 
distinct likeness of the great Founder of Methodism. It is 
a miniature representation, but large and distinct enough 
to give our young people a correct idea of the man and his 
work. We think the book opportune, and trust it will do 
much good. Our children should be taught to know and ven- 
erate the character of the man who has done so much for 
the world, and to whom we as a Church are indebted for 
our existence. It is a fault of the present generation of 
Methodists that they know so little about him. We place 
this memoir in our catalogue with the hope that it will soon 
find its way into every Sunday-school library in the land, 
and that it may stimulate thousands to a better life. 

W. G. E. CUNNYNGHAM, 

Sunday-school Editor. 
Nashville, Term., Feb., 1885. 

(5) 



PREFACE. 

The older biographies of Mr. Wesley are deficient in 
many details which have since been published, and which 
are necessary to a complete and distinct understanding of 
the man and his work. On the other hand, Tyerman's 
"Life and Times of John Wesley," while it will proba- 
bly always remain the standard classic history of the illus- 
trious Founder of Methodism, is too voluminous to ob- 
tain a general reading in this busy age. Hence the pres- 
ent attempt to give a brief and popular but still a correct 
and adequate resume of all the more characteristic incidents 
of Mr. Wesley's life, such as might help to excite or deep- 
en,, particularly among the young, an interest in "those 
doctrines and usages of early Methodism that have contrib- 
uted under God to its spiritual power." The facts narrated, 
which for the most part are the common heritage of Meth- 
odism, have been largely taken from Tyerman, and sometimes 
verbatim. " Wesley's Journal," the " Memorials of the Wes- 
ley Family," and other authorities, have contributed in the 
same way. A very large part of the book consists in quo- 
tations from Wesley himself, in which he is left to tell his 
own story. The selection and grouping of the incidents, 
however, are the author's own work. In hope that it may 
be found successful in accomplishing the object proposed, 
he offers it to the favorable consideration of the reader. 
(6) 



CONTENTS. 

Introduction (by Bishop Wilson) 9-11 

CHAPTEE I. 
Ep worth — The Wesley Family — The Eev. Samuel Wesley 
— Mrs. Susanna Wesley — Fire — Wesley's Childhood — 
The Charterhouse — Epworth Noises — Oxford — Un- 
saved 13-31 

CHAPTER II. 
The College Porter— " Works of the Law"— The Ministry 
— Fellow of Lincoln — Fruitless Preaching — Charles Wes- 
ley—George Whitefield— The Oxford Club— Death of 
Mr. Wesley — Georgia — The Moravians — High-church- 
ism — Conversion 32-58 

CHAPTER III. 

A Dark Hour — The Methodist Revival — Outdoor Preach- 
ing — Beau Nash — Persecution — The Foundry — The 
United Societies — Lay Preachers — Strange Scenes — Cal- 
vinism — Class-meetings — The Itinerancy — Preaching 
from his Father's Tombstone — Death of Mrs. Wesley — 
Mobs — Happy Deaths — Learning 59-100 

CHAPTER IV. 

First Conferences — Ireland — Arrested — John Nelson — 
Helping the Poor — Education — Personal Appearance — 
Sanctification — Apostolical Succession- — "Harmless Di- 
versions" — Happy Experiences — Methodist Soldiers — 
Converted Children 101-121 

CHAPTER V. 

Toils and Dangers — Grimshaw — Charles Wesley's Mar- 
riage — True Religion — Grace Murray — The Earthquake 
— Taming the Shrews — Preachers 122-132 



8 Contents. 



CHAPTEK VI. 
Controversies — Wesley's Marriage — "Sifting" the Preach- 
ers — Calvinism — Scotland — Very 111 — An Invalid's 
Kest 133-140 

CHAPTEK VII. 

Separation — Sanctified Fanaticism — The Poor Actor — The 
Use of Money — Berridge — Shirley — " Softness " — Per- 
sonal Appearance 141-153 

CHAPTEE VIII. 

Chapel Debts — Finances — Kules of Discipline — Profitable 
Conversation — Eules for a Eevival — First College Ap- 
pointments — Whitefield's Death — Happy Experiences — 
Wesley Sick — The Work of a Methodist Preacher — A 
None-such — The Sin of Screaming .154-173 

CHAPTEE IX. 

Discipline — Works of Charity — Sunday-schools — Labors — 
Late Sleeping — Asbury — Silas Told — Fletcher — in Hol- 
land—A Novel 174-185 

CHAPTEE X. 

Deed of Declaration — Organization of the Church in Amer- 
ica — Ordination — Virtual Separation — Consecration of 
Coke — Ceaseless Labors — Dancing and Novel-reading — 
Proper Style of Preaching— Beautiful Old Age.. 186-198 

CHAPTEE XI. 

The Better Land in View — Fletcher's Death — Charles 
Wesley's Death— Beginning of the End — Dangers and 
Duty of the Eich — Wesley's Example — Last Sermons 
—Last Illness— "The Clouds Drop Fatness"— Wesley 
Bests from his Labors 199-216 



INTRODUCTION. 

BY BISHOP A. W. WILSON, D.D. 

This is not an attempt to furnish a new life of Mr. Wes- 
ley. Very little can now be added to the materials that 
have accumulated in the last century, and it would be diffi- 
cult to find a new point of view from which to contemplate 
the character and work of the Founder of Methodism. The 
aim of the writer of the following pages has been simply to 
bring the history of the man and his labors within the com- 
pass of a volume that may not seem ponderous for the av- 
erage reader, especially among the young. If he shall suc- 
ceed in attracting the attention of the young, and inducing 
them to acquaint themselves with the principles and proc- 
esses of the great Methodist movement as they are illus- 
trated in the life of John Wesley, he will have done a good 
work for the Church of the next generation. 

In the enlightenment of the world and the training of 
the Church, it is to men we must look. Events have their 
significance and influence only as they express character 
and tell of vital energies producing them. Every great 
advance in the history of our race is signalized by the ap- 
pearance of a man fitted for leadership. The Church of the 
Covenant begins its course with the call of Abraham, the 
father of all them that believe. The Church under the 
law takes its rise from the choice of Moses the lawgiver. 
Prophecy is incarnated in Samuel and Elijah. The Son of 
man is the final expression of the truth and power of all 
that had gone before him; while from him, as God mani- 

(9) 



10 Introduction, 



fest in the flesh, proceeded the whole energy that was to 
renovate the nations and save the world. 

The fulfillment of the purpose of God in Christ Jesus was 
committed to human ministry. Peter, John, Paul, and their 
fellow-laborers and sufferers, were, in their proper persons, 
the exponents of the mind of their Lord, and by the in- 
tenseness of their human sensibilities and energies gave 
new and higher demonstration, of the truth that to do his 
will in the world God worketh in men, and hath commit- 
ted the ministry of reconciliation to men. 

It is as it always has been : when God has a work to do, 
he prepares a man to do it. The men whom he has called 
are the focal-points of human history, The light has con- 
verged upon them and radiated from them. Wycliffe and 
Huss, Luther and Calvin, and Knox and Wesley — how 
would the history have been changed had these not ap- 
peared! Another civilization and another Church would 
have been about us had they not lived; and we need not 
hesitate to say a darker civilization and a feebler Church ; 
nay, would there have been a Church? The forms of su- 
perstition and priestcraft would have been perpetuated un- 
doubtedly as the most effective agencies for the subjugation 
of mind and the inthrallment of will that the mind has 
ever known. But the Church, as Christ gave it — luminous, 
radiant, dispelling darkness, ennobling men, lifting them to 
the consciousness of manhood in Christ, enfranchising them, 
offering them the liberty of the sons of God, the freedom 
of the kingdom of heaven — would surely have had no place 
among men to-day had these first-born of God not come. 

Happy the generation, the Church, that takes note of 
such men, and follows them as they followed Christ ! We 
do no wrong to the Master in honoring them. We but 
glorify God in them. The error and fault of the present 



Introduction. 11 



generation of Methodists are that they know too little of 
John Wesley and the men who wrought with him in his 
great struggle for human souls — for all human souls. They 
know nothing of the intense convictions which impelled 
him to the achievement of his broad purpose, the spiritual 
wisdom which guided him along providential ways to the 
settlement of the wonderful economy — one and many — in 
England and America which has conserved the fruits of his 
labors, and the preternatural experience, evincing the high 
possibilities of our humanity, which attested the genuine- 
ness of his convictions and gave the key-note to the testi- 
mony of the Church for the ages to come. For our young 
people this knowledge is indispensable. ]So man can know 
Methodism who does not know John Wesley. 

Our prayer is that this endeavor to bring the man and 
his work within reach of all our people may be successful 
in the largest measure, and that thousands may here find 
impulse and inducement to such large study of Wesley and 
Methodism as may yield the best fruits in experience, life, 
and labor. 



LIFE OF JOHN WESLEY, 



CHAPTER I. 

Epworth — The Wesley Family — The Kev. Samuel Wesley 
— Mrs. Susanna Wesley — Fire — Wesley's Childhood — 
The Charterhouse — Epworth Noises — Oxford — Unsaved. 

NEARLY two hundred years ago — June 17, 
1703 — in a rectory in Lincoln county, on the 
east coast of England, the hero of our narrative was 
born. Epworth, the little town where he first saw 
the light, consisted principally of a long, straggling 
street of small houses situated in the middle of a 
narrow strip of land between three rivers. The coun- 
try round about was a low-lying plain intersected 
with numerous creeks and so-called rivers running 
in from the adjacent sea. A large part of it had 
but lately been reclaimed from the swamps by drain- 
ing, and, still comparatively barren, stretched flat 
and monotonous on one side toward the sea, and 
was closed in by low, dun hills on the horizon on 
the other. As might be expected, the people both 
of the town and country were rough, illiterate, and 
needy. Schools, even the most rudimentary, w r ere 
verv few and very poor. Books were scarce and 

(13) 



14 Life of John Wesley. 

dear, and newspapers almost unknown. Commu- 
nication w T ith the outside world by stage or private 
conveyance was difficult and unfrequent over the 
miserable roads they then had, and few went or 
came to add freshness and information to the mo- 
notonous and restricted life of the obscure little 
place. There did not seem to be much hope for the 
future of the family in the rectory standing there 
at one end of the long street and filled with children 
from young Samuel, the oldest, down to the babe in 
the cradle. The face of the landscape, the state of 
society about them, the want of schools and all oth- 
er means of culture in the tow T n and neighborhood, 
were such as to repress every aspiration, and prom- 
ised only hopeless inferiority of mind and influ- 
ence. Had Mr. Wesley, their father, been rich, the 
prospect would have appeared brighter, since he 
could then have procured the means of improve- 
ment for his family. But he had long been bur- 
dened with the heaviest poverty. His salary was 
only about one hundred and thirty pounds a year 
clear money, and there were nineteen children born, 
ten of whom lived to be grown. He was not a very 
good manager, and when he undertook to carry on 
the rectory farm, as he did, he made more debts 
than crops. He had the misfortune, too, of having 
his barn fall down. One year his crop of flax was 
burned. For some years he was not popular with his 
parishioners, on account of his politics and other 



The Wesley Family. 15 

reasons, and his cattle were stabbed in the fields. 
His house also was burned twice — once partially, 
and at another time down to the ground. Three 
times he was elected to represent the diocese in con- 
vocation at London, to attend which he was obliged 
to employ a curate for his parish at home and to 
incur other expenses, amounting in all to one hun- 
dred and fifty pounds. All this kept them very 
poor. Thirteen years after the rectory was rebuilt 
Mrs. Wesley writes : " The house is still not half fur- , 
nished, and I and the children have not more than 
half enough clothing." "Endless duns and debts" 
are spoken of in after years by one of the daughters, 
and a want of sufficient clothes for the family. On 
one occasion Mr. Wesley was put in jail by a hard- 
hearted creditor for a debt of thirty pounds which 
he could not pay, and there he was forced to remain 
three months, until his friends could help him ; his 
family meantime living on milk and bread raised on 
the farm, and cared for solely by the unfaltering 
courage and devotion of Mrs. Wesley. " Tell me, 
Mrs. Wesley," once asked the Archbishop of York, 
"whether you ever really wanted bread." "My 
lord," said she, "I will freely own to your grace 
that, strictly speaking, I never did want bread. 
But then I had so much care to get it before it was 
eat, and to pay for it after, as has often made it very 
unpleasant to me; and I think to have bread on 
such terms is the next decree of wretchedness to 



16 Life of John Wesley, 

having none at all." And Mr. Wesley writes: "I 
have had but three children born since I came hith- 
er about three years since, but another coming, and 
my wife incapable of any business in my family as 
she has been for almost a quarter of a year, yet we 
have but one maid-servant, to retrench all possible 
expenses. Ten pounds a year I allow my mother 
to help keep her from starving. All which together 
keeps me necessitous, especially since interest-money 
begins to pinch me, and I am always called on for 
money before I make it, and must buy every thing 
at the worst hand ; whereas could I be so happy as 
to get on the right side of my income, I should not 
fear, by God's help, but to live honestly in the world, 
and to leave a little to my children after me. I 
think as 'tis I could perhaps work it out in time, 
in half a dozen or half a score of years, if my heart 
should hold so long ; but for that God's will be done." 
Nevertheless, scarcely was there a family ever heard 
of so remarkable for virtue, intelligence, and distinc- 
tion. John Wesley, the second son and the subject 
of our biography, was one of the most wonderful 
men that history mentions. Samuel, the eldest, 
was early noted for his genius and wit, and grew 
up to be a learned and talented author, a friend of 
Addison, Pope, and Prior, and others of the great- 
est authors of his time. The third and youngest 
son, Charles, was the finest sacred poet of modern 
times and perhaps that ever lived, and in some other 



Results of Godly Training. 17 

respects was not much inferior to John. The seven 
daughters were also all possessed of superior qual- 
ities of mind and character. Emilia was distin- 
guished for her grace of person, her gifts, and her 
exquisite taste in music and poetry. Mary was 
beautiful of face and in character, though short 
and deformed in body. Anne and Susanna mar- 
ried badly and were unhappy, but exhibited in 
their sad lives traits of surpassing patience and 
loveliness of character. Mehetabel, almost un- 
equaled in her attainments, learned to read in 
Greek at the age of nine, while her poetical gifts, 
accomplishments, and personal appearance were all 
of the highest order. Martha strongly resembled 
her brother John in person and mind. Refined in 
feeling and w T ise in counsel, she was honored with 
the friendship and society of the great Dr. Samuel 
Johnson. Hezzy, the youngest, died unmarried at 
an early age, after a disappointment, " full of thank- 
fulness, resignation, and love." 

To what cause can we ascribe such results under 
such circumstances? For answer we must look to 
the home alone where these children were reared. 
There was no other agency at Epworth. And it is 
the character and methods of management of the 
parents that determine the character of the home. 
The example of the Wesley family teaches that 
where these are w T hat they should be there is every 
thing to hope for in the children, no matter what 
2 



18 Life of John Wesley. 

poverty or surrounding discouragements may op- 
press them. 

Both Kev. Samuel Wesley, the father, and Mrs. 
Susanna Wesley, his wife, were descended from an- 
cestors as distinguished for their courage and adher- 
ence to principle as they were for their intelligence 
and piety — the father and grandfather of Mr. 
Wesley and the father of Mrs. Wesley all being 
ministers. Mr. Wesley himself was "earnest, con- 
scientious, and indefatigable in his search after 
truth," and became a learned and accomplished 
author. In person short of stature — for all the 
Wesleys were small, none being more than five feet 
six inches in height, and John weighing but one hun- 
dred and twenty-two pounds. He was aifectionate 
and vivacious toward his children, yet a rigid dis- 
ciplinarian. Indefatigable in his pastoral labors, 
he lived to see all enmity against him disappear 
among his parishioners, and to enjoy universal re- 
spect and love. He was so absorbed by his liter- 
ary and other labors that the care of the large fam- 
ily fell mainly upon his faithful w T ife, Mrs. Susanna 
Wesley — a name never to be forgotten among wives 
and mothers. Moving among her large family and 
under the pressing burdens and perplexities of pov- 
erty, she performed her manifold and ceaseless house- 
hold duties with the utmost order, method, and 
economy. She would seem to have had enough to 
do in the ordinary labors necessary for the care of 



Mrs. Susanna Wesley. 19 

so many dependent upon her. But in addition she 
has in large part to manage the business of the 
rectory farm; she alone, with some little assist- 
ance from her husband, must educate her seven 
daughters to be accomplished women, and prepare 
her three sons for entrance into the higher schools 
of learning; while in the frequent absence of Mr. 
Wesley she takes the spiritual charge of her chil- 
dren and servants, and sometimes even of her neigh- 
bors. Beautiful and graceful in person, she also 
has a strong and active mind, which she does not 
neglect to cultivate by reading and thinking. Ev- 
ery morning and evening she retires to her room 
to spend an hour in secret devotion, a habit she 
says she formed at thirty, when family cares began 
to increase and she felt the need of more prayer to 
be fitted to perform them. Therefore, she is now 
able to pursue her affairs with the greatest dili- 
gence, wisdom, and calm serenity. The children 
are all governed exactly— by rule. When each 
child is one year old it is taught to fear the rod, 
and if it cries at all, to " cry softly." Each one is 
taught the Lord's Prayer as soon as it can speak, 
and to repeat it every morning and every night. 
School is kept up in the house by the mother, and 
is opened and closed with the singing of psalms 
by the children. Twice a day each of the older 
children takes one of the younger — the oldest tak- 
ing the youngest, and so on— and reads to them a 



20 Life of John Wesley. 

Psalm and a chapter in the New Testament; after 
which both older and younger retire for secret 
prayer. Every evening the mother takes in turn 
one of the children by itself — " Molly on Monday, 
Hetty on Tuesday, Nancy on Wednesday, Jacky on 
Thursday, Patty on Friday, Charles on Saturday, 
and Emilia and Sukey together on Sunday " — and 
talks to them as to their spiritual state, with coun- 
sels and exhortations suited to their capacity. O 
that mothers everywhere might thus feel the sol- 
emn responsibility of the tender souls committed to 
their charge! 

Thus did this faithful mother labor in her house. 
Their tempers and manners also were her constant 
care. None were allowed to have any thing they 
cried for, because that would teach them to cry. 
Politeness was required of all from one to another, 
and even toward the lowest servants. All their 
doings — their going to bed, their rising, their dress- 
ing, eating, exercise, etc. — were strictly regulated by 
rule. Well may it be doubted whether a more illus- 
trious woman has ever appeared — one more faith- 
ful, more wise, more holy. "I have traced her 
life," says Dr. Adam Clarke, " with much pleasure, 
and received from it much instruction; and when 
I have seen her repeatedly grappling with gigantic 
adversities, I have adored the grace of God that 
was in her, and have not been able to repress my 
tears. I have been acquainted w T ith many pious 



Wesley's Childhood- — Fire, 21 

women; I have read the lives of several others, 
and composed memoirs of a few; but such a wom- 
an, take her for all in all, I have not heard of, 
I have not read of, nor with her equal have 
I been acquainted. Many daughters have done 
virtuously, but Susanna Wesley has excelled them 
all." Here was the secret: The Wesley children 
attained their high renown, under the blessing of 
God, from the character and nurture of their par- 
ents, especially of their mother; and their parents 
discharged their duties toward their children with 
such superior excellence chiefly because they framed 
their own lives and the lives of their family not 
as prompted by inclination or according to the max- 
ims and customs of the world around them, but as 
they found them directed by the unerring and 
eternal Word of God. 

The recorded events of John Wesley's childhood 
are few. The most remarkable was his escape from 
the fire which destroyed his father's house. " Feb- 
ruary 9," writes his mother some months after it 
occurred, " between the hours of eleven and twelve, 
our house took fire, by what accident God only 
knows. It was discovered by some sparks falling 
from the roof upon a bed where one of the children 
lay, and burnt her feet: she immediately ran to 
our chamber and called us; but I believe no one 
heard her, for Mr. Wesley was alarmed by a cry 
of fire in the street; upon w T hich he rose, little im- 



22 Life of John Wesley. 

agining that his own house was on fire; but on 
opening his door he found that it was full of smoke, 
and that the roof was already burnt through. He 
immediately came to my room (as I was very ill he 
lay in a separate room from me) and bid me and 
my two eldest daughters rise quickly and shift for 
our lives, the house being all on fire. Then he ran 
and burst open the nursery door, and called the 
maid to bring out the children. The two little ones 
lay in bed with her — the three others in another 
bed. She snatched up the youngest, and bid the 

rest follow, which they did, except Jacky 

While Mr. Wesley was carrying the children into 
the garden he heard the child in the nursery cry 
out miserably for help, which extremely affected 
him; but his affliction was much increased when 
he had several times attempted the stairs then on 
fire and found they would not bear his weight. 
Finding it was impossible to get near him, he gave 
him up for lost, and kneeling down he commended 
his soul to God, and left him, as he thought, per- 
ishing in the flames." But the child was preserved. 
This is his account of what happened in his room 
when he awoke in it alone: "Seeing the room was 
very light, I called to the maid to take me up. 
But none answering, I put my head out of the cur- 
tain and saw streaks of fire on the top of the room. 
I got up and ran to the door, but could get no 
farther, all the floor beyond it being in a blaze. I 



" Son John" Preserved, . 23 

then climbed upon a chest that stood near the win- 
dow ; one in the yard saw me, and- proposed run- 
ning to fetch a ladder. Another answered : ' There 
will not be time; but I have thought of another 
expedient. Here, I will fix myself against the 
w r all ; lift a light man and set him on my shoulders.' 
They did so, and he took me out of the window. 
Just then the roof fell; but it fell inward, or we 
had all been crushed at once. When they brought 
me into the house where my father was, he cried 
out: 'Gome, neighbors, let us kneel down! Let us 
give thanks to God! He has given me all my 
eight children ; let the house go — I am rich 
enough ! ' " 

This wonderful preservation seemed to point out 
that he was reserved by Divine Providence for some 
special purpose. His mother evidently so regarded 
it; and two years afterward, when he was about 
eight years old, in one of her "meditations," which 
she was accustomed to write during her hours of 
devotion, she says: 

"Evening, May 17, 1711. 

"Son John. What shall I render to the Lord for 
all his mercies? The little unworthy praise that I 
can offer is so mean and contemptible an offering 
that I am even ashamed to tender it. But, Lord, 
accept it for the sake of Christ, and pardon the de- 
ficiency of the sacrifice. I would offer thee myself 
and all that thou hast given me; and I would re- 



24 Life of John Wesley. 

solve — O give me grace to do it! — that the residue 
of my life shall all be devoted to thy service. And 
I do intend to be more particularly careful of the 
soul of this child that thou hast so mercifully pro- 
vided for than ever I have been, that I may do my 
endeavor to instill into his mind the principles of 
thy true religion and virtue. Lord, give me grace 
to do it sincerely and prudently, and bless my at- 
tempts with good success.' ' 

God did bless the good mother's efforts, and her 
boy early displayed an uncommon character for 
piety, though tfulness, and patient endurance. From 
early childhood he was remarkable for his sober 
and studious disposition. He was also exceedingly 
conscientious, and seemed to feel bound to answer 
the demands of reason and right in every thing he 
did, and would do nothing without first reflecting 
on its fitness and propriety. To argue about a 
thing, indeed, seemed even then to be instinctive. 
It is said that at the table if he were asked if he 
would be helped to any thing which it was unusual 
for him to take, he would first consider the matter, 
and reply, " I will think about it." His father on 
one occasion said to him: "Child, you think to 
carry every thing by dint of argument; but you 
will find how little is ever done in the world by 
close reasoning." 

Better than this, he was religious and so consist- 
ent that his father, High-churchman that he was, 



At the Charterhouse. 25 

and living far back in the last century, admitted 
him to the communion-table when he was but eight 
years old. Wesley himself, many years afterward, 
and evidently before he had disentangled himself 
fully from his High-churchism, said that untjl he 
was about the age of ten he had not sinned away 
that "washing of the Holy Ghost" which he re- 
ceived in baptism. This, as well as his native 
courage and resolution, was shown by the way he 
endured an attack of that dreadful disease small- 
pox while his father was away from home, and 
when he was less than nine years old, "Jack," 
writes his mother to Mr. Wesley, "has borne his 
disease bravely — like a man, and indeed like a 
Christian — without complaint, though he seemed 
angry at the small-pox when they were sore, as we 
guessed by his looking sourly, though he never 
said any thing." 

Such was John Wesley till he was ten and a half 
years old. He was then, through the influence of 
the Duke of Buckingham, admitted a pupil into the 
Charterhouse, London. This was a distinguished 
school, founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 for the 
maintenance and education of poor boys. Forty 
pupils at a time were here to be fed, clothed, and 
taught free of expense. The building had been 
originally occupied as a monastery by Carthusian 
monks, and was called the Charterhouse from Char- 
treux, the place where their order first arose, 



26 Life of John Wesley . 

Here his fortitude and patience were severely tried. 
A poor country boy, alone at school in London, he 
endured many insults and injuries. Fagging was 
prevalent, and among other hardships borne by the 
younger scholars, they had to suffer the want of 
proper and sufficient food, The older boys took 
from them their share of the meat they received 
and ate it themselves. One thing that helped his 
health was his strict observance of his father's 
command to "run around the Charterhouse garden 
three times every morning." But he must have 
suffered greatly. When he went to Oxford at sev- 
enteen his health was far from strong, and once he 
almost choked to death w T ith bleeding from the nose, 
a complaint with which he was much affected. 

Under all his discouragements he maintained a 
noble cheerfulness and courage. And when he 
himself became one of the older boys he did not 
practice the same cruelties upon those beneath him. 
On the contrary, he was in the habit of associating 
with them a great deal, and haranguing them 
when gathered together. This was cited afterward 
by his enemies as a proof of his ambitious temper- 
ament ; and it is said that when the master of the 
school had remonstrated with him on his seeking 
the society of the younger boys so much rather 
than confining himself to that of his equals, his 
answer w r as, "Better to rule in hell than serve in 
heaven." This account may well be doubted. It 



Epworth "Noises" 27 

is not probable that such a principle should have 
been so clearly and deliberately adopted by a boy 
as young as he was then ; and it is very improbable 
that one capable of doing so would have avowed 
the fact so frankly. Rather, this habit shows that 
he was kind and generous, with an innate propen- 
sity for public speaking and leadership, and speaks 
loudly for the magnanimity of the youth who could 
act so after he had himself received such ill treat- 
ment from those who were older. 

The account of this period of his life would be 
incomplete without some reference to the mysteri- 
ous noises that were heard in his father's house at 
Epworth while he was at the Charterhouse : " Some- 
times moans were heard as from a person dying; 
at others it swept through the halls and along the 
stairs with the sound of a person trailing a loose 
gown on the floor; the chamber- walls meanwhile 
shook with vibrations. Before ' Jeffrey/ as the 
children called it, came into any room the latches 
were frequently lifted up and the windows clat- 
tered. It seemed to clap the doors, draw the cur- 
tains, and throw the man-servant's shoes up and 
down. The mastiff barked violently at it the first 
day, yet whenever it came afterward he ran off 
whining to shelter himself." These noises con- 
tinued for about two months, and then ceased. 
Some thought they were produced by the serv- 
ants. The family all considered them supernatural, 



28 Life of John Wesley. 

though finding that no harm was done thereby they 
ceased to dread them. John, who was then but a 
youth, obtained all the particulars from his mother 
and each of his four sisters, and was deeply im- 
pressed with their accounts. Isaac Taylor thinks 
that " his faculty of belief was thus so laid open that 
ever after a right of way for the supernatural was 
opened through his mind ; and to the end of life 
there was nothing so marvelous that it could not 
pass where 'old Jeffrey' had passed before it." 
Southey thinks with Wesley that the noises were 
supernatural ; and Tyerman says : " We have little 
doubt that the Epworth noises deepened and most 
powerfully increased Wesley's convictions of an 
unseen world, and in this way were of the utmost 
consequence in molding his character and in mak- 
ing him one of the most earnest preachers of the 
Christian's creed that ever lived." 

When he left the Charterhouse at sixteen he had, 
by his energy of character, his unconquerable pa- 
tience, his assiduity, and his progress in learning, 
acquired a high position among his fellows. In the 
same or the following year he seems to have been a 
guest and pupil of his brother Samuel, who had by 
that time risen to be head usher of Westminster 
school, where Charles was a scholar. And Samuel 
writes of him to his father: "My brother Jack, I 
can faithfully assure you, gives you no manner of 
discouragement from breeding your third son a 



His Behavior at Oxford, 29 

scholar. Jack is a brave boy, learning Hebrew as 
fast as he can." 

In 1720 he obtained one of the Charterhouse 
scholarships in Christchurch College, Oxford. 
Here, in that illustrious seat of learning, he main- 
tained his reputation for scholarship which he had 
gained at the Charterhouse. He was of a gay and 
sprightly disposition, full of wit and humor, given 
to writing verses, and fond of lively company. In 
fact, Wesley at this period, and for a considerable 
time before, was any thing but serious-minded. 
While he was at school distinguished for many 
most excellent qualities, in one respect he had fear- 
fully gone backward. O the dangers besetting a 
young boy away from home in a godless school! 
While at the Charterhouse young Wesley gained in 
knowledge but lost in religion. Of this period he 
writes afterward: "Outward restraints being re- 
moved, I was much more negligent than before, 
even of outward duties, and almost continually 
guilty of outward sins, which I knew to be such, 
though they were not scandalous in the eyes of the 
world. However, I still read the Scriptures and 
said my prayers morning and evening, and what I 
now hoped to be saved by was: (1) Not being so 
bad as other people; (2) having still a kindness 
for religion; and (3) reading the Bible, going to 
church, and saying my prayers." 

Again he writes of himself when at Oxford : " I 



30 Life of John Wesley. 

still said my prayers both in public and privately, 
and read with the Scriptures several other books 
of religion, especially comments on the New Testa- 
ment. Yet I had not all this while so much as a 
notion of inward holiness — nay, went on habitually 
and for the most part very contentedly in some one 
or other known sin, though with some intermis- 
sions and short struggles, especially before and after 
the holy communion, which I was obliged to receive 
thrice a year." 

This lamentable truth was accompanied with its 
usual inevitable effects. His character began to 
deteriorate in important respects. Nothing but the 
grace of God in the human soul can keep it on a 
high plane. His letters at this period were without 
religious sentiment, and his life was without relig- 
ious aim. He perhaps thoughtlessly contracted 
debts greater than he had means to pay ; and there 
may have been other things. We find his father 
w T riting, January 5, 1725: 

"Dear Son : Your brother will receive £5 for you 

next Saturday if Mr. S is paid the £10 he lent 

you. If not, I must go to H — — , but I promise 
you I sha' n't forget that you are my son if you do 
not that I am your loving father, 

" Samuel Wesley." 

And again he wrote, January 26, 1725: 

"Dear 8o?i : I am so well pleased with your de- 
cent behavior, or at least with your letters, that I 



An Irreligious Career. 31 

hope I shall have no occasion to remember any 
more some things that are past ; and since you have 
now for some time bit upon the bridle, I will take 
care hereafter to put a little honey upon it as oft as 
I am able; but then it shall be of my own mere 
motion, as the last £5 was, for I will bear no rivals 
in my kingdom. Your affectionate father, 

" Samuel Wesley." 
And a rather frothy letter from Robert Kirk- 
ham, afterward one of the first Methodists, written 
as late as 1727, talks about "a dinner of calf's 
head and bacon, with some of the best green cab- 
bage in the town/' and tapping " a barrel of admi- 
rable cider," of all of which the writer wishes Wes- 
ley might have been a partaker. 



CHAPTER II. 

The College Porter— " Works of the Law"— The Ministry 
— Fellow of Lincoln — Fruitless Preaching — Charles Wes- 
ley—George Whitefield— The Oxford Club— Death of 
Mr. Wesley — Georgia — The Moravians — High-church- 
ism — Conversion. 

"T~\ 7^~HAT were the special means by which Wes- 
V V ley was at last moved to forsake his life of 
irreligion, we do not fully know. We may be sure 
that God's Spirit constantly reproved him of sin and 
of righteousness and of the judgment to come ; and 
doubtless human instrumentalities were not want- 
ing. Perhaps one of the earliest, and certainly one 
of the most powerful by Wesley's own account, was 
the porter of his college. This humble but faithful 
Christian went one evening to talk with the lively 
young collegian in his room. After indulging in 
some pleasantry, Wesley told him to go home and 
get another coat. The porter replied: "This is the 
only coat I have in the world, and I thank God for 
it." Wesley said : " Go home and get your supper." 
The man responded: "I have had nothing to-day 
but a drink of water, and I thank God for that." 
Wesley remarked: "It is late, and you will be 
locked out ; and then what will you have to thank 
God for?" "I will thank him," replied the porter, 
(32) 



Preparing for the Ministry. 33 

"that I have the dry stones to lie upon." "John/' 
said Wesley, "you thank God when you have noth- 
ing to wear, nothing to eat, and no bed to lie upon. 
What else do you thank him for?" " I thank him," 
returned the poor fellow, "that he has given me life 
and being, and a heart to love him, and a desire to 
serve him." 

Wesley says the interview made a lasting impres- 
sion on his mind, and convinced him there was 
something in religion to which he was a stranger, 
so grei t the power of a faithful witness and a 
godly life, even in the humblest Christian. Who 
can tell how T great a part the poor porter had in 
turning John Wesley's thoughts and affections to- 
ward God, and thus in promoting the welfare of the 
world! Whatever other agencies there may have 
been at work, it is certain that in 1725 we find 
Wesley thinking of the ministry. His father wrote 
him that "the principal motive must not be, as Eli's 
sons, 'to eat a piece of bread,' but for the glory of 
God and the good of men." His mother wrote: 
"Dear Jackey, the alteration of your temper has 
occasioned me much speculation. I who am apt to 
be sanguine, hope it may proceed from the operation 
of God's Holy Spirit, that by taking away your rel- 
ish for sensual enjoyments, he may prepare and dis- 
pose your mind for a more serious and close appli- 
cation to things of a more sublime and spiritual 
nature. If it be so, happy are you if you cherish 



34- Life of John Wesley. 

those dispositions, and now in good earnest resolve 
to make religion the business of your life ; for after 
all that is the one thing that, strictly speaking, is 
necessary, and all things else are comparatively lit- 
tle to the purpose of life. I heartily wish you would 
now enter upon a serious examination of yourself 
that you may know whether you have a reasonable 
hope of salvation." 

He now T began to apply himself with diligence 
to a thorough reformation of life. " When I was 
about twenty-two/' he says, " the providence of God 
directed me to Kempis's ' Christian Pattern.' I be- 
gan to see that true religion was seated in the heart, 
and that God's law extended to all our thoughts as 
well as words and actions. I was, however, angry 
at Kempis for being too strict, though I read him 
only in Dean Stanhope's translation ; yet I had 
much sensible comfort in reading him, such as I 
was an utter stranger to before. Meeting likewise 
with a religious friend, which I never had till now, 
I began to alter the whole form of my conversation, 
and to set in earnest upon a new life. I set apart 
an hour or two for religious retirement; I commu- 
nicated every week ; I watched against all sin, 
whether in word or deed ; I began to aim at and 
pray for inward holiness, so that now, doing so 
much and living so good a life, I doubted not that 
I was a good Christian." He also read Taylor's 
"Holy Living and Dying." "Instantly I resolved 



Alone in his Struggle. 35 

to dedicate all my life to God — all my thoughts 
and words and actions — being thoroughly convinced 
that there was no medium, but that every part of 
my life (not some only) must either be a sacrifice 
to God or to myself — that is, in effect to the 
devil." 

He now began to correspond with his mother on 
religious topics, particularly on the two great doc- 
trines of universal atonement and the privilege of 
living in a state of conscious salvation. He also 
adopted Taylor's recommendation of taking an ex- 
act account of the manner in which he spent his 
time by daily writing how he had employed every 
hour — the beginning of that famous diary which 
he continued till his death. His change in life sub- 
jected him to contemptuous sneers from those asso- 
ciated with him. Up to this time he was all alone 
in his endeavors after a better life. He wrote to 
his father about his ill treatment, and received the 
following characteristic reply : 

"August 24, 1725. 

"Dear Son: If you be what you write, I shall 
be happy; as to the gentlemen candidates you 
mention, does anybody think the devil is dead or 
asleep, or that he has no agents left? Surely virt- 
ue can bear being laughed at. The Captain and 
Master of our salvation endured something more 
for us before he entered into glory ; and unless we 
track his steps, in vain do we hope to share the 



36 Life of John Wesley. 

glory with liim. Naught else but blessings from 
your loving father, Samuel "Wesley." 

Meantime the day fixed for his ordination drew 
near. This involved various expenses which, though 
not large, it was difficult to meet. His father was 
at the time "struggling for life," but by great ex- 
ertion helped him, and he was ordained deacon by 
Bishop Potter September 19, 1725, the good bishop 
at the same time advising him that "if he wished 
to be extensively useful he must spend his time not 
in contending for or against things of a disputable 
nature, but in testifying against notorious vice, and 
in promoting real essential holiness." Wesley's first 
sermon was preached at South Leigh, a small vil- 
lage three miles from Witney. In March following 
he was elected a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. 
This was a most important event to him. The po- 
sition gave him a comfortable support from the 
funds of the college, while it also gave him a share 
in its government, and made him a tutor and lect- 
urer to the students. New duties were upon him. 
He resolved to be diligent. "Leisurer-and I," he 
writes, "have taken leave of one another. I pro- 
pose to be busy as long as I live, if my health is so 
long indulged me." 

During the ensuing summer he paid a visit home 
to Epworth, where he spent his time pursuing his 
studies with the greatest diligence, preaching also 
twice every Sunday, and conversing with his father 



Bid of Unprofitable Friends. 37 

and mother on practical religion. He here also 
wrote a paraphrase of the one hundred and fourth 
Psalm, in which he showed his genius for poetry. 

On returning to the university his literary repu- 
tation now soon became established. All parties 
acknowledged him to be a man of talents and learn- 
ing, while his skill in logic was remarkable, so that 
"though he was only in the twenty-third year of 
his age, and had not yet taken a master's degree," 
within two months after his return he was elected 
Greek lecturer and moderator of the classes. 

In the beginning of 1727 he drew up for himself 
a scheme of studies, telling his mother that he "had 
perfectly come over to her opinion that there are 
many truths it is not worth while to know," and 
for the knowledge of which time was ill spent when 
so many really important things remained undone. 
Another step he took was to rid himself of unprofit- 
able friends. "I resolved," he says, "to have no 
acquaintance by chance, but by choice, and to choose 
only such as would help me on my way to heaven. 
In consequence of this, I narrowly observed the 
temper and behavior of all that visited me. I 
saw no reason to think that the greater part of 
these truly loved and feared God; therefore when 
any of them came to see me I behaved as courte- 
ously as I could, but to the question, ' When will 
you come to see me?' I returned no answer, and 
when they had come a few times and found I still 



38 Life of John Wesley, 

declined returning the visit, I saw them no more ; and 
I bless God this has been my invariable rule for 
about three-score years." Still Wesley, according 
to his own testimony, was ignorant of God. " Meet- 
ing with Mr. Law's ' Christian Perfection/ and ' Se- 
rious Call/ although I was much offended at many 
parts of both, yet they convinced me more than 
ever of the exceeding height and breadth and depth 
of the law of God. The light flowed in so might- 
ily upon my soul that every thing appeared in a 
new view. I cried to God for help, resolved as I 
had never been before not to prolong the time of 

obeying him I was convinced more than 

ever of the impossibility of being half a Christian, 
and determined to be all devoted to God; to give 
him all my soul, my body, and my substance." 

Meantime he was still preaching, and, in some 
degree at least, privately laboring in the gospel. 
He writes in 1727: "While watching with a friend 
at a young lady's funeral I attempted to make him a 
Christian. From that time the youth was exceed- 
ingly serious, and a fortnight ago died of consump- 
tion. I was with him the day before his decease, 
and at his request preached his funeral-sermon." 
Mr. Tyerman adds: "Here was Wesley's first con- 
vert." 

August, 1727, he went home to act as his father's 
curate, Mr. Wesley being obliged to have assistance 
on account of his age and his loss of health. Here 



Charles at Oxford. 39 

he remained till November 22, 1729, preaching and 
doing all the ordinary work of a country pastor. 
Meantime, during a three months' visit to Oxford 
in the summer of 1728, he was ordained elder by 
Bishop Potter. Of his ministry at Epworth he says : 

" I preached much, but saw no fruit of my labor. 
Indeed, it could not be that 1 should, for I neither 
laid the foundation of repentance nor of believing 
the gospel — taking it for granted that all to whom 
I preached were believers, and that many of them 
needed no repentance. During all this time I was 
utterly ignorant of the nature and condition of 

justification I had some confused notion 

about the forgiveness of sins, but then I took it for 
granted the time of this must be the hour of death 
or the day of judgment. I was equally ignorant 
of the nature of saving faith, apjDrehending it to 
mean no more than ' a firm assent to all the propo- 
sitions contained in the Old and New Testament/ " 

On Wesley's return to Oxford in 1729 he found 
his brother Charles, w T ith two or three other stu- 
dents, attending the sacrament weekly, and other- 
wise following a strict religious life. In 1726, when 
Charles had first come to Oxford, John had spoken 
to him about his soul. Charles was then " a spright- 
ly, rollicking young fellow, with more genius than 
grace," and answered: "What! would you have me 
to be a saint all at once?" Now all was changed. 
The regularity with which he and his associates 



40 Life of John Wesley. 

were living led a young collegian to call them 
"Methodists," and "the name clave to them im- 
mediately." At first Robert Kirkham and Will- 
iam Morgan, besides the two Wesleys, were all that 
composed their company. Afterward there were 
added to them John Clayton, John Broughton, 
Benj. Ingham, James Hervey, John Whitelamb, 
Westley Hall, John Gambold, Charles Kinchin, 
William Smith, and some others from time to time. 
George Whitefield did not join them till 1735. 
" Three years before he had been admitted a serv- 
itor (or servant to the other students, for which he 
received maintenance and tuition) of Pembroke 
College, and had begun to pray and sing psalms 
five times a day. He longed to be acquainted with 
the Methodists, and often watched them passing 
through a ridiculing crowd to receive the sacra- 
ment at St. Mary's; but he was a poor youth, and 
shrunk from obtruding himself upon their notice. 
At length a woman in one of the work-houses in 
the city having attempted to cut her throat, White- 
field sent to Charles Wesley to inform him of her 
condition. This led Charles to invite him to break- 
fast next morning, and he thus became introduced to 
the Methodists and adopted all their rules. On this 
the master of his college threatened to expel him ; 
some of the students ridiculed him, others threw 
dirt upon him, and others took their pay from him. 
In great distress about his soul, he lay prostrate on 



The Oxford "Methodists," 41 

the ground in silent or vocal prayer. He chose the 

worst sort of food ; he fasted twice a week 

Abstinence and inward conflicts brought on illness ; 
but after seven weeks he was enabled to lay hold 
on Christ by a living faith, and was filled with 
peace and joy." 

The brotherhood thus formed was as perfect as 
unity of sentiment and feeling could make it. All 
were of one judgment and one heart. Wesley was 
their chief director. Whatever he proposed was 
readily adopted, until he was nicknamed "the Cu- 
rator of the Holy Club." Every night they met to 
review what each had done during the day, and to 
consult as to what should be done the day follow- 
ing. Their meetings always began with prayer and 
ended with a frugal supper. Labor among young 
students to keep them from evil company and evil 
ways; the instruction and relief of impoverished 
families; visiting schools, the work-house, and the 
prisoners in the castle ; reading prayers Wednesday 
and Friday; preaching every Sunday, and admin- 
istering the sacrament once a month, kept them 
busy. Out of their own scanty means they raised 
a fund to purchase books, medicines, and other nec- 
essaries for the prisoners, and to release those who 
were confined for debts of small amount. 

It was the practice of the Oxford Methodists to 
give away all they had after providing for their 
own necessities. Wesley, referring to himself, says : 



42 Life of John Wesley. 

" One of them had thirty pounds a year. He lived 
on twenty-eight and gave away two. The next 
year, receiving sixty pounds, he still lived on twen- 
ty-eight and gave away thirty-two. The third year 
he received ninety pounds and gave away sixty-two. 
The fourth year he received a hundred and twenty 
pounds ; still he lived as before on twenty-eight, and 
gave to the poor all the rest." 

One cold day a young girl who was attending 
one of the schools they had established for the poor 
called upon Wesley, almost frozen. He said : " You 
seem half starved ; have you nothing to wear but 
that linen gown?" "Sir," she replied, "this is all 
I have." He put his hand into his pocket, but 
found it empty. The walls of his room, however, 
were hung with pictures. "It struck me," says he, 
" will thy Master say, ' Well done, good and faith- 
ful steward ; thou hast adorned thy walls with the 
money which might have screened this poor creat- 
ure from the cold?' O justice! O mercy! Are 
not these the blood of this poor maid?" 

He w r as just as conscientious as to the use of his 
time. Finding that he awoke every night about 
twelve or one o'clock, he concluded that this arose 
from his lying in bed longer than nature needed; 
and to satisfy himself he procured an alarm which 
aroused him next morning at seven, an hour earlier 
than he had risen the day previous; but still he 
lay awake again at night. The second morning 



Holy Living. 43 



his alarm aroused him at six, and the third at five ; 
but still he lay awake. The fourth morning he 
got up at four, and now wakefulness was unknown 
to him. Sixty years afterward he writes: "By the 
grace of God I have risen at four o'clock ever since, 
and, taking the year round, I do n't lie awake a 
quarter of an hour together in a month." 

His hours for private devotion were from five to 
six o'clock every morning and every night. The 
Bible was his book of books. He was always cheer- 
ful, but never arrogant. "By strict watchfulness 
he beat down the impetuosity of his nature into a 
child-like simplicity. His piety was nourished by 
continual communion with God, and often was he 
seen coming out of his closet with a serenity of 
countenance that was next to shining. Slanders 
never ruffled him. Coming home from long jour- 
neys, where he had been in different companies, he 
would calmly resume his usual employments as if 
he had never left them." 

His friends lived a similar life. Every morning 
and every evening they spent an hour in private 
prayer. Thursday, every week, though they might 
be separate from each other, they prayed in concert 
at an appointed hour. In secret devotion they fre- 
quently stopped short to observe if they were using 
proper fervor; and before concluding in the name 
of Christ they adverted to the Saviour, now inter- 
ceding in their behalf at the right-hand of God, and 



44 Life of John Wesley. 

offering up their prayers. They embraced every 
possible opportunity of doing good, and spent an 
hour every day in speaking directly to men on the 
state of their souls, planning every conversation be- 
forehand, that they might speak the more usefully. 
They were all at this time intensely High-church, 
however. There is reason to think that Wesley 
recommended the confessional, and it is certain 
that he seriously contemplated the formation of a 
society which should strictly observe saints' days, 
holy days, Saturdays (as the seventh day), besides 
other ritualistic practices, including even the su- 
perstitious admixture of the sacramental wine with 
water. In short, as Wesley himself says, "they 
were, in the strongest sense, High-churchmen." 

Opposition was incessant. Slanders of all kinds 
were abundant. The press was employed to mis- 
represent, ridicule, and abuse them, and if possible 
to refute them. Wesley was the soul and life of 
the whole movement. He boldly defended him- 
self and his associates in his sermons, and also by 
publishing replies to their accusers. When he was 
present with the little society, all went well ; when 
he was absent, it soon went down. Twice, on re- 
turning from a short visit home, he found it almost 
extinguished, and twice he again restored it to life 
and vigor. 

There were friends, too, who came to their aid. 
Wesley's father encouraged them. The noble- 



His Father's Death. 45 

hearted old rector has not always had the credit 
due him for the part he had in the establishment 
of Methodism. The little band at Oxford applied 
to him in seasons of perplexity. One of them 
writes: "They formed their conduct upon his ad- 
vice; and upon the encouragement he gave them 
they were determined at all events to persevere in 
the course they had begun." In his dying-hour, 
which now soon took place, he urged them to con- 
tinued steadfastness, and prophesied their success. 
Placing his hand on Charles's head, the old hero 
said : " Be steady ! The Christian faith will surely 
revive in this kingdom. You shall see it, though 
I shall not." "Are you near heaven?" asked John. 
"Yes," said he, "I am." "Are the consolations of 
God small with you, father?" "No, no, no!" he 
responds. As the moment draws nigh they kneel 
in prayer, all but Mrs. Wesley, who had fainted 
several times in the sick-chamber, and had to be 
removed. As they cease he whispers, "Now you 
have done all;" and as they again raise the voice 
of supplication he is gone. "Now," said Mrs. 
Wesley, when they told her, " I am heard in his 
having so easy a death, and I am strengthened to 
bear it," 

It should be added that on the very day of her 
husband's death a cruel woman seized on Mrs. Wes- 
ley's cattle for a debt of £25. John gave his note 
for the amount, however, and the cattle were re- 



46 Life of John Wesley. 

leased. After otherwise assisting his mother he 
returned to Oxford. Immediately afterward the 
chief of the Oxford Methodists w 7 ere widely scat- 
tered, Gambold, Ingham, and Broughton becoming 
engaged in regular ministerial work, Whitefield 
going on an evangelistic tour to Gloucester, Bris- 
tol, and other places, and the two Wesleys making 
a visit to London to James Hutton, one of their 
Oxford friends. 

While here Wesley met with a Dr. Burton, who 
was greatly interested in the colonization of Geor- 
gia. Dr. Burton introduced him to Gen. Ogle- 
thorpe, the founder of the colony, w T ho strongly 
urged him to undertake a mission there. Wesley 
consulted with Samuel and other friends. His no- 
ble mother wrote: "Had I twenty sons, I should 
rejoice if they were so well employed." Dr. Bur- 
ton wrote him that "plausible and popular doctors 
of divinity w 7 ere not the men wanted for Georgia ; 
for the ease, luxury, and levity in which they were 
accustomed to indulge disqualified them for such a 
work." 

Ten days after the date of this letter Wesley ac- 
cepted the proposal, and in sixteen days after the 
same date — in company with his brother Charles, 
Benjamin Ingham, and Charles Delamotte — em- 
barked for the work in Georgia. Wesley's chief desire 
was to preach to the Indians, which Ingham also in- 
tended to do ; but the colonists were without a pas- 



Learning from Spangenberg. 



tor, and the "Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel in Foreign Parts" appointed Wesley to the 
place at a salary of £50 a year. On board the ves- 
sel he met with a company of Moravian emigrants 
going over to join their brethren already settled 
there. Wesley was greatly impressed with their 
pious behavior, especially during a dreadful storm 
that continued a week, and threatened to utterly 
destroy them. Just when the sea sparkled and 
smoked as if on fire, and the air fairly blazed with 
lightning, while the sails were torn to tatters by the 
fury of the wind, the Moravians were engaged in 
singing a psalm at their evening service. The En- 
glish passengers began screaming, but they calmly 
sung on. Wesley was struck with this, and asked 
them, after the service was over, "Were you not 
afraid ? " One replied, " I thank God, no." " But 
were not your women and children afraid ? " " No," 
replied he, "our women and children are not afraid 
to die." Wesley concludes his account by saying, 
" This was the most glorious day that I had ever seen." 
Arriving at Savannah, Wesley met the well- 
known Moravian elder, Gottlieb Spangenberg. 
Wesley asked his advice how to act in his new 
sphere of labor. Spangenberg replied : " My broth- 
er, I must first ask you one or two questions : Have 
you the witness within yourself? Does the Spirit 
of God bear witness with your spirit that you are 
a child of God?" Wesley was surprised at buch 



48 Life of John Wesley. 

questions. They were new to him. He was at a 
loss how to answer. Spangenberg continued, " Do 
you know Jesus Christ?" This was easier, and 
Wesley answered, " I know that he is the Saviour 
of the world." "True," said Spangenberg, "but 
do you know he has saved you?" Wesley was 
again perplexed, but answered, " I hope he has died 
to save me." Spangenberg only replied, " Do you 
know yourself?" Wesley replied, "I do;" and he 
was led to think of doctrines which it took him 
tw T o more years to understand. 

During the two years nearly that Wesley staid in 
Georgia he met with a succession of disappoint- 
ments and troubles. He had wished to go on a 
mission to the Indians, but Governor Oglethorpe 
objected on the grounds that there was then great 
danger of his being taken or killed by the French 
near by, and that it was inexpedient to leave Sa- 
vannah without a minister. Wesley replied that his 
appointment to the office of minister there was done 
without his desire or knowledge, and that he should 
not continue longer than until the way was opened 
to go among the Indians. So the matter ended, 
but his path seemed effectually stopped. 

He now therefore began to apply himself to min- 
isterial labors in Savannah. Every Saturday and 
Sunday afternoon he catechised between thirty and 
forty children. Every Sunday he held three public 
services: at five in the morning, at midday, and at 



Barefooted at School. 49 

three in the afternoon ; and then at night as many 
of his parishioners as desired it met at his house, 
with whom he spent an hour in prayer, singing, and 
mutual exhortation, A similar meeting was held 
every Wednesday night, and selected ones on all 
the other evenings of the week, while he constantly 
visited his parishioners from house to house during 
the day. In addition, he learned French, Italian, 
and German, in order to converse with such of the 
people as could speak only those languages; and 
toward the close of his stay, to all his other labors 
on the Sabbath he added an Italian service in the 
morning and a French service in the afternoon. 

An instance of his readiness in meeting emer- 
gencies, both humorous and instructive, occurred 
while he was here. Delamotte had a school in 
which part of the boys wore shoes and stockings, 
and the others none. The former ridiculed the 
latter, and Delamotte tried to stop it, but could not. 
Wesley said he thought he could cure it, if the 
next week he took charge of the school. On Mon- 
day morning he did so, and walked into school 
barefooted. The children looked amazed, but Wes- 
ley, without any reference to their past jeering, 
kept them at their work. Before the week was out 
the shoeless ones began to gather courage; and 
some of the others, seeing their minister and mas- 
ter come barefoot, began to copy his example, and 
the evil was effectually cured. 
4 



50 Life of John Wesley. 

Unfortunately he did himself much hurt by his 
High-churchism. Many looked upon him as a sort 
of Roman Catholic. He rigidly excluded all who 
had not been baptized by an episcopally ordained 
minister, as well as all dissenters from the commun- 
ion ; he endeavored to enforce confession and penance, 
mixed wine with w T ater in the sacrament, appointed 
deaconesses in accordance with what he called apos- 
tolic constitutions, and other such practices. This, 
and his repelling from the sacrament a Mrs. Will- 
iamson, for whom, before her marriage, he had felt 
a deep attachment, led at last to his return to En- 
gland, December 22, 1737, where Charles had long 
preceded him. 

It cannot be doubted that Wesley was sincere 
and conscientious in his course in Georgia, but he 
was certainly no less ill judged, unscriptural, and 
arrogant. Besides Mrs. Williamson, he had re- 
pelled others from the Lord's-table. The reasons 
he gave in her case were that since her marriage 
she had come to the sacrament only once a month 
instead of once a week, and some dissimulation, the 
nature of which he did not explain. In reference 
to Bolzius, whom he had also repelled, after quot- 
ing a letter received from him twelve years after- 
ward, he says: "What truly Christian piety and 
simplicity breathe in these lines ! and yet this very 
man, when I was at Savannah, did I refuse to ad- 
mit to the Lord's-table because he was not bap- 



Not a Child of God. 51 



tized — that is, not baptized by a minister who had 
been episcopally ordained. Can any one carry 
High-church zeal higher than this? How well 
have I been since beaten with my own stick?" 

On the way to England he had time for self- 
examination, and he writes: "By the most infalli- 
ble of proofs, inward feeling, I am convinced of 
unbelief, of pride, of gross ir recollection, of levity 
and luxuriancy of spirit. I went to America to 
convert the Indians, but O who shall convert me?" 
On landing in England he penned another remark- 
able paper asserting the same thing, and saying, 
" Alienated as I am from the life of God, I am a 
child of hell." In after years he appended a note 
to the former of these statements, saying, "I am 
not sure of this," and to the latter, "I believe not; 
I had even then the faith of a servant, though not 
that of a son." The latter expression is explained 
by the following extract from one of his sermons : 
" Nearly fifty years ago when the preachers com- 
monly called Methodists began to preach that grand 
scriptural doctrine, salvation by faith, they were 
not sufficiently apprised of the difference between a 
servant and a child of God. In consequence of 
this, they were apt to make sad the hearts of those 
whom God had not made sad ; for they frequently 
asked those who feared God, ' Do you know that 
your sins are forgiven?' And upon their answer- 
ing, 'No,' immediately replied, 'Then you are a 



52 Life of John Wesley. 

child of the devil.' No, that does not follow. It 
might have been said (and it is all that can be said 
with propriety), ' Hitherto you are only a servant ; 
you are not a child of God. You have already great 
reason to praise God that he has. called you to his 
honorable service. Fear not, continue crying unto 
him, and you shall see greater things than these.' " 
Whether Wesley's decision in reference to him- 
self was just might well be doubted. True, he was 
far from perfect in spirit and behavior in Georgia; 
but no man could be more sincere or earnest. In 
the same document in which he so accuses himself 
he says: "I not only have given and do give all my 
goods to feed the poor, and not only give my body 
to be burned, drowned, or whatever God shall ap- 
point for me, but I follow after charity, if haply I 
may attain it. ... I show my faith by my w T orks — 
by staking my all upon it. I would do so again 
and again, a thousand times, if the choice were still 
to make." He afterward says of himself: "All the 
time I was in Savannah I was thus beating the air. 
Being ignorant of the righteousness of Christ, 
which by a living faith in him bringeth salvation 
to every one that believeth, I sought to establish 
my own righteousness, and so labored in the fire all 
my days. ... In this state I was indeed fighting 
continually, but not conquering. Before I had 
willingly served sin; now it was unwillingly, but 
still I served it. I fell and rose, and fell again 



Dispute with Peter Bolder. 



Sometimes I was overcome and in heaviness, some- 
times I overcame and was in joy ; for as in the for- 
mer state I had some foretastes of the terrors of 
the law, so had I in this of the comforts of the 
gospel. During this whole struggle between nat- 
ure and grace, which had now continued above ten 
years, I had many remarkable answers to prayer, 
especially when I was in trouble. I had many 
seusible comforts, which are indeed no other than 
short anticipations of the life of faith. But I was 
still under the law, not under grace, the state most 
who are called Christians are content to live and 
die in ; for I was only striving with, not freed from, 
sin. Neither had I the witness of the Spirit with 
my spirit, and indeed could not, for ' I sought it not 
by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.' " 
On the way home, during a terrific storm in mid- 
ocean, he found himself afraid of death, and felt 
convinced that the reason was the want of a true 
living faith. A company of Moravians were on 
board, and Peter Bohler, their leader, told him that 
true faith was always attended (1) by dominion 
over sin; (2) constant peace from a sense of for- 
giveness. Wesley disputed this with all his might, 
but Bohler referred him to the Bible. Wesley con- 
sulted the Bible, and was compelled to acknowl- 
edge Bohler was right ; still he did not believe that 
anybody's experience ever rose to this pitch. Bohler 
next day brought him three persons, all of whom 



54 Life of John Wesley. 

testified of their personal experience that the doc- 
trine was true, and also that this faith is the gift of 
God, and that he surely gives it to every one who 
earnestly and perseveringly prays for it. Bohler 
further taught him that this saving faith is given in 
a moment, and that in an instant a man is turned 
from sin and misery to righteousness and joy in the 
Holy Ghost. Wesley protested against this also, 
and Bohler again referred him to the Scriptures. 
Wesley, to his utter astonishment, found there were 
scarcely any instances of other than instantaneous 
conversions. Still he objected : " God wrought this 
in the first ages of Christianity; times now are 
changed/' Bohler turned again to his experience 
proof, and the day after brought forward his wit- 
nesses that God had given them in a moment such 
a faith in Christ as translated them out of darkness 
into light. 

Wesley writes: "Here ended my disputing. I 
could only cry out, ' Lord, help thou my unbelief 
I was now thoroughly convinced, and by the grace 
of God I resolved to seek this faith unto the end, 

(1) by absolutely renouncing all dependence, in 
whole or in part, upon my own works of righteous- 
ness, on which I had really grounded my hope of 
salvation, though I knew it not, from my youth up ; 

(2) by adding to the constant use of all other means 
of grace continual prayer for this very thing." 

From that time, February 7, 1738, till the 4th 



His Heart "Strangely Warmed" 55 

of May, when Bohler left London, Wesley em- 
braced every opportunity of conversing with him. 
Meanwhile several of his friends, as Whitefield and 
William Hutchins, of Pembroke College, had em- 
braced the doctrine of salvation by faith only, and 
had experienced it. Charles Wesley also, on May 
21, was made a partaker of the same great blessing. 
Wesley was still a mourner ; his heart was heavy. 
He felt there was no good in him, and that all his 
works, his righteousness, and his prayers, as far 
from having merit, needed an atonement for them- 
selves, and yet he heard a voice saying : " Believe, 
and thou shalt be saved;" "he that believeth is 
passed from death unto life." 

Three more days of anguish were passed, and 
then, on May 24, at five in the morning, he opened 
his Testament on these words : " There are given 
unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that 
by these ye might be partakers of the divine nat- 
ure." On leaving home he opened on the text, 
" Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." In 
the afternoon he went to St. Paul's Cathedral, where 
the anthem was full of comfort; at night he went 
to a society meeting in Aldersgate street, where a 
person read Luther's preface to the Epistle to the 
Romans, in which Luther teaches what faith is, and 
also that faith alone justifies. While this preface 
was being read Wesley experienced an amazing 
change. He writes: "I felt my heart strangely 



56 Life of John Wesley. 

warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ 
alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given 
me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, 
and saved me from the law of sin and death ; and 
I then testified openly to all there what I now first 
felt in my heart." Toward ten o'clock a troop of 
friends took him to his brother, who was sick ; they 
sung a hymn and then parted with a prayer. To 
add to this is not necessary. He w T as before a 
servant of God, accepted, as he afterward claimed 
himself, and was therefore safe ; but now he knew 
it, and was happy as well as safe. 

Bohler's explanation of his and Charles's diffi- 
culty in believing is w r ell worth pondering by all : 
"Our mode of believing in the Saviour is so easy 
to Englishmen that they cannot reconcile them- 
selves to it. If it were a little more artful they 
would much sooner find their way into it. Of faith 
in Jesus they have no other idea than the gener- 
ality of people have. They justify themselves, and 
therefore they always take it for granted that they 
believe already, and try to prove their faith by 
their works, and thus so plague and torment them- 
selves that they are at heart very miserable." 

Wesley had found peace with God ; but for the 
instruction of new converts let it be remembered 
that his joy in the Holy Ghost was not unbroken. 
The same night he "was much buffeted with temp- - 
tations which returned again and again." The day 



Doubting, but Waiting on God. 57 

after, "the enemy injected a fear" that the change 
was not great enough, and therefore that his faith 
was not real. On May 26th his " soul continued in 
peace, but yet in heaviness through manifold temp- 
tations." On the 27th there was a want of joy ; on 
the 31st he "grieved the Spirit of God, not only by 
not watching unto prayer, but likewise by speaking 
with sharpness, instead of tender love, of one >vho 
was not sound in the faith. Immediately God hid 
his face, and he was in trouble and heaviness till 
the next morning." 

In mingling with the Moravians, one of whose 
societies he joined, he seemed to have imbibed some 
wrong notions from their teachings, and especially 
from their experiences, which, earnest and sincere 
as they were, were yet mixed with much that was 
fanatical and foolish. For a time he seems to have 
confounded the doctrine of the Spirit's witness 
with that of sanctification, and thought it to in- 
clude "deliverance from every fleshly desire, and 
from every outward and inward sin." 

Accordingly, five months after his conversion, we 
find him writing: "This witness of the Spirit, I 
have it not." And again: "I cannot find in my- 
self the love of God or of Christ ; hence my dead- 
ness and my wanderings in public prayer," etc. 
Like many others, he was apparently attaching to 
the witness of the Spirit a signification too high, 
and afflicting himself because his experience did 



58 Life of John Wesley. 

not reach to the height he had fixed for it. But in 
the midst of all these temptations and doubts and 
failings, he kept waitiDg ivpon God continually, 
read the New Testament, conquered temptation, 
and gained increasing power to trust and to rejoice 
in God his Saviour. The mists w T ere soon scattered, 
and he could testify to the end of life: "The testi- 
mony of the Spirit is an inward impression on the 
soul, whereby the Spirit of God directly witnesses 
to my spirit that I am a child of God ; that Jesus 
Christ hath loved me, and given himself for me; 
and that all my sins are blotted out, and I, even I, 
am reconciled to God." 



CHAPTER III. 

A Dark Hour— The Methodist Bevival— Outdoor Preach- 
ing — Beau Nash — Persecution — The Foundry — The 
United Societies — Lay Preachers—Strange Scenes — Cal- 
vinism — Class-meetings — The Itinerancy — Preaching 
from his Father's Tombstone — Death of Mrs. Wesley — 
Mobs — Happy Deaths — Learning. 

DURING the year 1738, with the exception of 
one month spent on his voyage from America 
and three months he passed in Germany on a visit 
to the Moravian community under Count Zinzen- 
dorf, Wesley preached continually — in work-houses, 
in prisons, in the cabin of a ship, or in churches — 
wherever he could gain admittance, Justification 
by faith and free grace were the great doctrines 
which he, with Whitefield and Charles Wesley, now 
began to teach, and which gave rise to that great 
revival of modern times called Methodism — the 
greatest revival since the days of the apostles. 
Never was there greater need of an awakening. 
"Never," says a writer in the North British Re- 
view, "has a century risen on Christian England so 
void of soul and faith as that which opened with 
Queen Anne and reached its musty noon beneath 
the second George — a dewless night succeeded by a 
sunless dawn," Vice abounded. The Bishop of 

(59) 



60 Life of John Wesley. 

Leitchfield, in a sermon in 1724, said : "The Lord's- 

day is now become the devil's market-day 

Sin in general has grown so hardened and rampant 
as that immoralities are defended— yea, justified — ■ 
on principle. . . . . . Every kind has found a 

writer to teach and vindicate it, and a bookseller 
and hawker to divulge and spread it." 

"Drinking had become almost a mania. In 
1736 every sixth house in London was a licensed 
grog-shop. In the higher classes of society the 
taint left by Charles II. and his licentious court 
still festered. Among the lower classes laziness and 
dishonesty were next to universal. Superstition 
flourished almost as vigorously as it had done in 
the Middle Ages. Extravagance was the order of 
the day. Scarcely one family in ten kept within 
its income. The grand controversy was who should 
outdress, outdrink, or outeat his neighbor. Gam- 
bling was universal. London sw T armed with ruined 
rakes and broken traders, who contrived to live in 
the best society by reciting broken scraps of poetry, 
singing licentious songs, and retailing drunken puns 
and quibbles. All usual restraints were relaxed. 
Everywhere there w T as an abuse of liberty, a great 
neglect in education, and a want of care in train- 
ing children and in keeping servants in good order, 
while idleness, luxury, gambling, and drunkenness 
had grown into an alarming magnitude. Infidelity 
prevailed among all classes, and boldly made direct 



A Godless Era in England. Gl 

efforts to undermine all religion. Ignorance was 
rife, and gave opportunity to all evil. In the whole 
kingdom in 1715 there were but one thousand one 
hundred and ninety-three schools for the education 
of the poor, containing only twenty -six thousand 
nine hundred and twenty scholars. Crime was 
enormous. In 1738 fifty-two criminals were hanged 
at Tyburn jail alone. During that and the preced- 
ing year twelve thousand persons in London had 
been convicted of smuggling gin or of selling it 
without license. Sunday traffic had become such a 
nuisance in London that the court of aldermen had 
to interfere to suppress it. A committee of the 
House of Lords, appointed in 1738 'to examine 
into the causes of the present notorious immorality 
and profaneness,' reported that a number of loose 
and disorderly persons had of late formed them- 
selves into a club, and were trying to induce the 
youths of the kingdom to join them, professing 
themselves to be votaries of the devil, and offering 
prayers to him and drinking his health."* 

At once the cause and a consequence of the pre- 
vailing ignorance, immorality, and crime was the 
general decay of religion prevailing. In the Church 
ministers were fops and dandies, and immoral or 
dead and formal. Bishop Burnet wrote in 1713: 
" Our ember days are the burden and grief of my 

* Condensed from Tyerman's " Life and Times of Wesley." 



62 Life of John Wesley. 

life. The much greater part of those who come to 
be ordained are ignorant to a degree not to be ap- 
preciated by those who are not obliged to know it. 
The easiest part of knowledge is that to w r hich they 
are the greatest strangers — I mean the plainest 
parts of the Scriptures. They can give no account, 
or at least a very imperfect account, of the contents 
even of the gospel, or of the catechism itself." 

Green says : " Of the prominent statesmen of the 
time the greater part were unbelievers in any form 
of Christianity, and distinguished for the grossness 
and immorality of their lives. Drunkenness and 
foul talk were thought no discredit to Walpole. A 
later prime-minister, the Duke of Grafton, was in 
the habit of appearing at the play with his mistress. 
Purity and fidelity to the marriage-vow were sneered 
out of fashion ; and Lord Chesterfield, in his letters 
to his son, instructs him in the art of seduction as a 
part of a polite education." * 

To reform and save the people, Wesley and his 
colaborers simply preached the doctrines of the 
Bible and instituted their discipline of life ; and it 
was sufficient then, as it always will be by the bless- 
ing of God. The moral aspect of the whole nation 
was soon changed. 

"A religious revival burst forth at the close of 
Walpole's ministry which in a few years changed 

*" History of the English People," Vol. IV., Book VIII. 



The Methodist Revival 63 

the whole temper of English society. The Church 
was restored to life and activity. Religion car- 
ried to the hearts of the poor a fresh spirit of 
moral zeal, while it purified our literature and our 
manners. A new philanthropy reformed our pris- 
ons, infused clemency and wisdom into our penal 
laws, abolished the slave-trade, and gave the first 
impulse to popular education. The revival began 
in a small knot of Oxford students, whose revolt 
against the religious deadness of their times showed 
itself in ascetic observances, an enthusiastic devo- 
tion, and a methodical regularity of life, which 

gained them the nickname of ' Methodists.' 

Their preaching stirred a passionate hatred in their 
opponents. Their lives were often in danger ; they 
w T ere mobbed, they w T ere ducked, they were smoth- 
ered with filth; but the enthusiasm they aroused 

was equally passionate Charles Wesley 

came to add sweetness to this sudden and startling 
light. The wild throes of hysteric enthusiasm 
passed into a passion for hymn-singing, and a new 
musical impulse was aroused in the people which 
gradually changed the face of public devotion 
throughout England. But the Methodists them- 
selves were the least result of the Methodist re- 
vival. Its action upon the Church of England 
broke the lethargy of the clergy, and the ' Evan- 
gelical' movement, w T hich found representatives 
like Newton and Cecil within the pale of the Es- 



64 Life of John Wesley. 

tablishment, made the fox-hunting parson and the 
absentee rector at last impossible: In Walpole's 
day the English clergy were the idlest and most 
lifeless in the world. In our own time no body of 
religious ministers surpasses them in piety, in phil- 
anthropic energy, or in popular regard. 

"In the nation at large appeared a new moral 
enthusiasm, which, rigid and pedantic as it often 
seemed, was still healthy in its social tone, and 
whose power was seen in the disappearance of the 
profligacy which had disgraced the upper classes, 
and the foulness which had infested literature ever 
since the restoration. But the noblest result of the 
religious revival was the steady attempt — which has 
never ceased from that day to this — to remedy the 
guilt, the ignorance, the physical suffering, the so- 
cial degradation of the profligate and the poor. It 
was not till the Wesleyan movement had done its 
work that the philanthropic movement began. The 
passionate impulse of human sympathy with the 
w T ronged and the afflicted raised hospitals, endowed 
charities, built churches, sent missionaries to the 
heathen, supported Burke in his plea for the Hin- 
doo and Clarkson and Wilberforce in their crusade 
against the iniquity of the slave-trade." 

Strong opposition arose. Mrs. Hutton, in w r hose 
house John and Charles Wesley had their lodgings, 
and w T hose family had been a long time intimate 
with them, grew r alarmed lest her two boys should 



His Ministry Opposed. G5 

also be drawn into the same "wild notions/' and 
writes to Samuel Wesley to stop this "wildfire" if 
he can. Samuel was already troubled about his 
two brothers, and entered into a correspondence 
with John protesting and arguing against their 
views with all his might. Complaint was made 
against them by others to Dr. Gibson, Bishop of 
London, and John and Charles waited on him to 
answer the charge; but the bishop found nothing 
to reprove in them, and dismissed them kindly. 
The famous Warburton began to write against 
them ; and sermons from prominent ministers were 
leveled at their doctrines. 

At the close of the year 1738 Wesley was almost 
uniformly excluded from the pulpits of the Estab- 
lished Church. With the exception of expound- 
ing in a few private houses, he had to content him- 
self with preaching not more than half a dozen 
sermons during the first two months of 1739. In 
March he went to Oxford, where he labored chiefly 
in visiting families and individuals and instructing 
them, being sometimes obliged to dispute with op- 
posers, whom he found everywhere endeavoring to 
destroy the fruits of his ministry. " ^Ve had ap- 
pointed the little society at Beading to meet us in 
the evening, but the enemy was too vigilant; al- 
most as soon as we were out of the town the minis- 
ter sent or went to each of the members, and began 
arguing and threatening, and utterly confounded 



66 Life of John Wesley. 

them, so that they were all scattered abroad," But 
the work was not in vain. "Mrs. Campton set 
her face as a flint." "Mrs. Mears's agony so in- 
creased that she could not avoid crying out aloud 
in the street. With much difficulty we got her to 
Mrs. Shrieve's, where God heard us and ^ent her 
deliverance. Presently Mrs. Shrieve fell into a 
strange agony both of body and mind— her teeth 
gnashed together, her knees smote each other, and 
her whole body trembled exceedingly. We prayed 
on, and within an hour the storm ceased ; and she 
now enjoys a sweet calm, having remission of sins 
and knowing that her Redeemer liveth." " On 
Monday Mrs. Cleminger being in pain and fear, we 
prayed, and the Lord gave her peace. At six in 
the evening we were at Mrs. Fox's society; about 
seven at Mrs. Campton's. The power of the Lord 
was present at both, and all our hearts were knit 
together in love." 

Whitefield now took a bold step, In February, 
having come to Bristol, he found all the churches 
closed against him but two; and the chancellor 
of Bristol interfered to prevent him from preach- 
ing in those, threatening to first suspend and then 
expel him if he should continue to preach in that 
diocese without license. But the chancellor had, 
undertaken no easy task. Away went Whitefield, 
February 17, and preached in the open air to two 
hundred colliers at Kingswood. Wesley "could 



Following WIdtefield's Example. 67 

scarcely reconcile himself at first to this strange 
way of preaching in the fields, having all his life — 
till very lately — been so tenacious of every point re- 
lating to decency and order that he should have 
thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had 
not been in a church." But Whitefield continued, 
and at the second service he had two thousand peo- 
ple to hear him; at.the third four thousand; at the 
fifth, ten thousand; and afterward sometimes as 
many as twenty thousand. He now sent for Wes- 
ley. Wesley hesitated, Charles objected, and the 
society in Fetter Lane disputed ; but at length the 
matter was decided affirmatively. Wesley reached 
Bristol March 31st, and immediately began to fol- 
low Whitefield's example. 

Once more he was engaged in his loved employ, 
and thenceforth continued to preach without ceas- 
ing — in fields and commons, and public squares, 
wherever he could find a congregation — to the end 
of his long life ; the greatest outdoor preacher that 
ever lived. Most of 1739 he spent in Bristol and 
its immediate neighborhood, delivering at least five 
hundred sermons, only eight of which were preached 
in churches. "The points," he writes, "I chiefly* 
insisted upon were four : First, that orthodoxy, or 
right opinion, is at best but a very slender part of 
religion, if it can be allowed to be any part at all ; 
that neither does religion consist in negatives, in 
bare harmlessness of any kind, nor merely in ex- 



68 Life of John Wesley. 

ternals, in doing good, or using the means of grace, 
in works of piety or of charity, but that it is noth- 
ing short of or different from the mind that was in 
Jesus Christ; the image of God stamped upon the 
heart; inward righteousness attended with the peace 
of God and joy in the Holy Ghost. Secondly, that 
the only way to this religion is repentance toward 
God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly, 
that by this faith he that worketh not but belie veth 
on him that justifieth the ungodly is justified freely 
by his grace through the redemption which is in 
Christ Jesus. Fourthly, that being justified by 
faith we taste of the heaven to which we are going ; 
we are holy and happy; we tread down sin and 
fear, and sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus." 
He adds that he had no desire to preach in the open 
air. Field -preaching was a thing submitted to 
rather than chosen; and submitted to because he 
thought preaching even thus better than no preach- 
ing at all — first in respect to his own soul, and next 
in respect to the souls of others. He asserts further 
that never had he seen a more awful sight than 
when on Rose Green or the top of Hannam Mount 
some thousands of persons were calmly joined to- 
gether in solemn waiting upon God. He says: "I 
have now no parish of my own, nor probably ever 
shall I look upon all the world as my par- 
ish ; thus far I mean that in whatever part of it I 
am I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty to 



Field-preaching — Persecution. 69 

declare unto all that are willing to hear the glad 
tidings of salvation/' 

" Their congregations," says James Hutton, " were 
composed of every description of persons, who, with- 
out the slightest attempt at order, assembled, cry- 
ing ' Hurrah ! ' with one breath, and with the next 
bellowing and bursting into tears on account of 
their sins ; some poking each other's ribs, and oth- 
ers shouting, 'Halleluiah!' It was a jumble of 
extremes of good and evil. . . . Here thieves, pros- 
titutes, fools, people of every class, several men of 
distinction, a few of the learned, merchants, and 
numbers of poor people who had never entered a 
place of worship, assembled in crowds and became 
godly." 

But hundreds of the poor miners were made 
happy in Christ. Standing unwashed, just as they 
had come out of the coal-pits, the tears coursed 
down their blackened faces and left white furrows 
on their cheeks, while they repented, believed, and 
were saved. In a short time multitudes of them, 
notorious before for ignorance, degradation, and 
crime of every sort, were transformed into humble 
and consistent Christians. 

Persecution arose. Wesley says : " We continued 
to call sinners to repentance, but it was not without 
violent opposition both from high and low, learned 
and unlearned. Not only all manner of evil was 
spoken of us, both in private and public, but the 



70 Life of John Wesley. 

beasts of the people were stirred up almost in all 
places to knock these mad dogs on the head at 
once; and when complaint w r as made of their sav- 
age, brutal violence, no magistrate would do us 
justice." 

At Pensford the minister would not allow him 
to preach in the church, because he said he had 
heard he was mad. Wesley thereupon took his 
stand in the open air; but in the midst of prayer 
two men hired for the purpose began to sing bal- 
lads, which obliged Wesley and his company to 
sing psalms so as to drown one noise with another. 
Subsequently at Bath, Beau Nash — at that time 
the social dictator of that fashionable city, though a 
rake and a gambler — determined to break up Wes- 
ley's preaching in the city when he came there. 
In due time Wesley arrived, and was entreated by 
his friends not to attempt to preach. But he had 
gone there to preach, and preach he would. The 
threatenings of Nash made his congregation very- 
large, both of the rich and the poor. Soon after 
Wesley began, the "beau" appeared in his immense 
white hat, and asked "by what authority he did 
these things." Wesley replied: "By the authority 
of Jesus Christ, conveyed to me by the (now) Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, when he laid his hands upon 
me and said, 'Take thou authority to preach the 
gospel.'" "This is contrary to act of Parliament," 
said Beau Nash ; " this is conventicle." Wesley an- 



Assaulted and Abused Everywhere. 71 

swered: "Sir, the conventicles are seditious meet- 
ings; but here is no sedition; therefore it is not 
contrary to that act." "I say it is!" cried he; 
" and besides, your preaching frightens people out 
of their wits." "Sir," said Wesley, "did you ever 
hear me preach ? " " No," said Nash. " How, then," 
said Wesley, "can you judge of what you never 
heard?" "Sir, by common report. Common re- 
port is enough." "Give me leave, sir," replied 
Wesley, "to ask, Is not your name Nash?" "My 
name is Nash," said he. " Sir," said Wesley, " I 
dare not judge of you by common report. I think 
it is not enough to judge by." Here Nash paused 
awhile, and having recovered himself said : "I de- 
sire to know what this people come here for." On 
which an old woman said: "Sir, leave him to me;" 
and amid her taunts the gorgeous "beau" slunk 
away. 

These, however, were comparatively light attacks. 
"We were assaulted and abused on every side," 
says Wesley. "We were everywhere represented 
as mad dogs, and treated accordingly. We were 
stoned in the streets, and several times narrowly 
escaped with our lives. In sermons, newspapers, 
and pamphlets of all kinds, we were painted as 
unheard-of monsters. But this moved us not; we 
went on testifying salvation by faith both to small 
and great, and not counting our lives dear unto our- 
selves so we might finish our course with joy." 



72 Life of John Wesley. 

Besides many other attacks from smaller antago- 
nists, Gibson, Bishop of London, published a "pas- 
toral letter" of fifty-five pages, two-thirds of which 
dwelt on " enthusiasm," charging the Methodists 
with nine serious errors. To this Whitefield re- 
plied boldly and effectively. At the same time 
Wesley was having a tilt with the Bishop of Bris- 
tol, who had directed him to leave the diocese. 
Wesley declined, declaring that " wherever I think 
I can do the most good there must I stay as long as 
I think so. At present I think I can do most good 
here ; therefore, here I stay." The basest and most 
scurrilous attacks were common. It was declared 
that they were " movers of sedition and ringleaders 
of the rabble ; " that they taught " such absurd doc- 
trines as to give countenance to the lewd and de- 
bauched, the irreligious and profane;" that they 
were "deceivers," "babblers," "insolent pretend- 
ers." In a poetical pamphlet published in 1739 the 
devil was represented as having made a tour from 
Borne to Oxford, in the course of which he stole 
the bigoted madness of a Turk and the wit of a 
modern atheist, both of which he drenched dull 
and deep in a literary Dutchman's brain, and then 
making them his own, etc., introduced himself to 
the Methodists and gave them instructions ho*w to 
act — instructions too filthy to be here repeated. 
Such was the storm in which Methodism was cra- 
dled. It was misunderstood and opposed more or 



Building School* and Churches. 73 

less actively even by such men as Dr. Doddridge, 
Hervey, and Samuel Wesley, friendly as they were 
personally to the Methodist leaders. But none the 
less the latter kept calmly on their way. 

Methodism soon began to assume a more stable 
form. At once they set about building schools and 
churches and organizing their bands. The first 
school attempted was at Kingswood, where the peo- 
ple, poor and ignorant almost as the beasts that per- 
ish, were utterly unprovided for. The poor colliers 
contributed out of their poverty twenty pounds, 
Whitefield collected some eighty pounds more, and 
Wesley undertook the rest, becoming himself re- 
sponsible for the payment of the debts. At the 
same time he began to build a room also in Bris- 
tol for the use of two " societies," by which a debt 
of one hundred and fifty pounds was contracted, 
while the subscriptions did not amount to more 
than a quarter of that amount. But he reflected 
that "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness there- 
of," and went on with the work, assuming all the 
debt. He also began to build a church in London. 
In November, on a visit there, he had preached in 
the " Foundry," a place which had been the king's 
foundry for cannon, but then "a vast uncouth heap 
of ruins," caused by an explosion that had occurred 
there in 1716. He had immense congregations, 
and he was pressed to buy the place and fit it up 
for public worship. The purchase-money was one 



74 Life of John Wesley. 

hundred and fifteen pounds ; but a large sum addi- 
tional would be required to make the needful re- 
pairs. Wesley resolved to undertake the work, 
and borrowing the money he bought the place and 
fitted it up. Subscriptions were obtained amount- 
ing in three years to four hundred and eighty 
pounds, but leaving still a balance of three hun- 
dred pounds unprovided for, and for which he alone 
was responsible. By such courage, faith, and self- 
denying enterprise did Methodism rise; and these 
were among Wesley's greatest gifts. Surely elo- 
quence and even wisdom and knowledge are neither 
so strong nor, alas! so rare as these. 

The " Foundry " was really the cradle of Lon- 
don Methodism. The building was about one hun- 
dred and twenty by ninety-nine feet. The chapel, 
w T ith its galleries, seated some fifteen hundred per- 
sons on benches without backs, excepting about a 
dozen seats with back-rails for the weaker women 
in front. At the end of the chapel was a dwelling- 
house for his domestics and assistant preachers, and 
behind it was a band -room holding some three 
hundred people, where the classes met, and where 
prayer-meetings were held twice a week, and where 
in winter the "five o'clock morning service" was 
conducted. In this room, too, was " the book-room " 
for the sale of Wesley's publications, fitted up at 
the north end, and overhead were apartments for 
Wesley, and where his mother died. Attached to 



The " United Societies." 75 

the whole was a small building used as a coach- 
house and stable. Such was the first Methodist 
meeting-house — at once a church and a parsonage. 
Another most important event in 1739 was the 
rise of the "United Societies." Up to this time 
the Methodists had organized no societies of their 
own. The "societies" to whom Wesley had been 
in the habit of preaching before this were of two 
kinds — one the "Moravian Societies," the first of 
which he had himself helped to organize in Fetter 
Lane, London, in 1738; the other the "Religious 
Societies," which had been in existence for many 
years before, scattered over the kingdom and com- 
posed of small gatherings of pious people met for 
religious exercises and to do works of charity. 
But he writes: "In the latter end of the year 1739 
eight or ten persons came to me in London who 
appeared to be deeply convinced of sin and ear- 
nestly groaning for redemption. They desired I 
would spend some time with them in prayer, and 
advise them how to flee from the wrath to come. 
That we might have more time for this great w r ork, 
I appointed a time w T hen we might all come to- 
gether, which from thenceforward they did every 
Thursday in the evening. To these and as many 
more as desired to join with them (for the number 
increased daily) I gave those advices, from time to 
time, which I judged most needful for them; and 
we always concluded our meetings with prayer 



76 Life of John Wesley. 

suited to their several necessities. This was the 
rise of the United Societies, first in London and 
then in other places." Rules of discipline were 
soon added ; and from this seed grew all the Meth- 
odist churches of Great Britain and America. 

Another momentous event of this eventful year 
was the introduction of lay preaching. In 1735 
John Cennick, the son of Quaker parents who had 
piously reared him, was convicted of sin while 
walking in Cheapside. At once he left off his sins, 
and prayed and fasted long and often, but not till 
September 5, 1737, did he find peace with God. 
Rejoicing in his new-found happiness, he began to 
preach. June, 1739, he became head-master of 
the school at Kingsw T ood. There, on the failure 
of a young preacher to appear on an appointed 
day, he was requested to officiate. He reluctantly 
consented, and again the next day, and again on 
the following Sunday. Meantime Howell Harris, 
in Wales, without any orders, and without any 
acquaintance with the Wesleys, had been preach- 
ing since 1735, and was the means of a most glo- 
rious work of God in his native country. He and 
Cennick now met Wesley in Bristol. The three 
fell upon their knees. Wesley "was greatly en- 
larged," writes Harris, "in prayer for me and all 
Wales;" and both Cennick and Harris returned to 
their respective fields of labor encouraged by Wes- 
ley to continue preaching to sinners. Thomas Max- 



The Unlettered Maxfield. 77 

field and John Nelson soon after followed, and Jo- 
seph Humphreys, who had also apparently assisted 
him, in 1738, at Fetter Lane. 

This was a most startling innovation. "I knew 
your father well," said the Archbishop of Armagh to 
Charles Wesley ; " I could never credit all I heard 
respecting you; but one thing in your conduct I 
could never account for — your employing laymen." 
"My lord," said Charles, "the fault is yours and 
your brethren's." " How so?" asked the Archbish- 
op. " Because you hold your peace and the stones 
cry out." "But I am told," continued his grace, 
"that they are unlearned men." "Sometimes they 
are," said the sprightly poet; "and so the dumb 
ass rebukes the prophet." His ]ordship said no 
more. 

Whitefied was in doubt. Wesley himself, in the 
case of Maxfield, was apprehensive. Maxfield w T as 
one of his first converts, and had been with Charles 
Wesley for a year or two apparently as a servant. 
Being left at the Foundry to meet the society and 
pray with them and to give them suitable advice, 
he w T as insensibly led to preach, and with such 
power that numbers were converted. Wesley, hear- 
ing of this irregularity, hurried to London to put 
a stop to it. His mother, w T ho then lived at the 
Foundry, said: "John, take care what you do in 
respect of that young man, for he is as surely 
called of God to preach as you are. Examine 



Life of John Wesley. 



what have been the fruits of his preaching, and 
hear him yourself." John did so, and was con- 
vinced, and Thomas went on preaching. Four 
years after, he wrote: "I am bold to affirm that 
these unlettered men have help from God for the 
great work of saving souls from death. But in- 
deed in the one thing which they profess to know 
they are not ignorant men. I trust there is not 
one of them who is not able to go through such an 
examination in substantial, practical, experimental 
divinity, which few of our candidates for holy 
orders even in the university are able to do. In 
answer to the objection that they are laymen, I 
reply: The scribes of old, who were the ordinary 
preachers among the Jews, were not priests; they 
were not better than the laymen. . . . Besides, in 
how many churches in England does the parish 
clerk read the whole service every Lord's-day. . . . 
Nay, is it not done in the universities. Who or- 
dained that singing man at Christchurch, Oxford, 
murdering every lesson he reads, not endeavoring 
to read it as the word of God, but rather as an old 
song?" In further justification he states that after 
God had used him and his brother clergymen in 
several places to turn many from sin unto holiness, 
the ministers of those places spoke of them " as if 
the devil — not God — had sent them; and repre- 
sented them as fellows not fit to live — papists, her- 
etics, traitors, conspirators against their king and 



Extraordinary Manifestations. 79 

country;" while the converts under their ministry 
were "driven from the Lord's-table, and openly 
cursed in the name of God." What could be done 
for their regular instruction? "No clergyman 
would assist at all. The expedient that remained 
was to find some one among themselves w T ho was 
upright of heart and of sound judgment in the 
things of God." The attempt was made, and it 
succeeded. God owned and blessed it, and the 
lay preachers became the means not only of en- 
couraging the converts and reclaiming backsliders, 
but also of converting sinners. 

Mention must be made of the extraordinary man- 
ifestations that attended Wesley's preaching this 
year at Bristol and the neighboring country : 

"April 17. — At Baldwin street we called upon 
God to confirm his word. Immediately one that 
stood by cried out aloud with the utmost vehemence, 
even as in the agonies of death. But we contin- 
ued in prayer till a new song w T as put into her 
mouth, even a thanksgiving unto our Lord. Soon 
after, two other persons were seized with strong 
pain and constrained to roar for the disquietude of 
their hearts. But it was not long before they too 
burst forth into praise to God their Saviour. The 
last who called upon God as out of the belly of 
hell was a stranger in Bristol ; and in a short space 
he also was overwhelmed with joy and love. 

"April 21, a young man was suddenly seized with 



80 Life of John Wesley. 

a violent trembling all over, and in a few minutes 
sunk to the ground. 

"April 27. — At Newgate I was led to pray that 
God w r ould bear witness to his word. Immediately 
one and another and another sunk to the earth. 
They fell on every side as thunderstruck. 

"May 1.— At Baldwin street my voice could 
scarce be heard amidst the groanings of 'some and 
the cries of others calling aloud to Him that is 
mighty to save. ... A Quaker who stood by was 
very angry, and was biting his lips and knitting 
his brows when he dropped down as thunderstruck. 
The agony he w 7 as in w r as even terrible to behold. 
We prayed for him, and he soon lifted up his head 
with joy, and joined with us in thanksgiving. A 
by-stander, John Haydon, a weaver, a man of reg- 
ular life and conversation, one that constantly at- 
tended the public prayers and sacrament, and was 
zealous for the Church and against dissenters, la- 
bored to convince the people that all this was a de- 
lusion of the devil; but next day, while reading 
a sermon on ' Salvation by Faith,' he suddenly 
changed color, fell off his chair, and began scream- 
ing and beating himself against the ground 

When I came in he said : ' Av, this is he I said de- 
ceived the people ; but God has overtaken me. I 
said it was a delusion of the devil, but this is no 
delusion/ Then he roared out: *0 thou devil! thou 
cursed devil! — yea, thou legion of devils! — thou 



Busy with the Converts, ■ 81 

canst not stay in me ! Christ will cast thee out. I 
know his work is begun. Tear me in pieces if thou 
wilt, but thou canst not hurt me/ He then beat 
himself against the ground, his breast heaving as 
if in the pangs of death, and great drops of sweat 
trickling down his face. We all betook ourselves 
to prayer. His pangs ceased, and both his body 
and soul were set at liberty/' 

Such extracts might be multiplied. We subjoin 
only two or three more of the most remarkable: 

" October 23. — I was pressed to visit a young wom- 
an at Kings wood. I found her on the bed, two or 
three persons holding her. Anguish, horror, and 
despair above all description appeared in her pale 
face. The thousand distortions of her whole body 
showed how T the dogs of hell were gnawing at her 
heart. The shrieks intermixed were scarce to be en- 
dured. She screamed out: 'I am damned, damned! 
lost forever ! Six days ago you might have helped 
me ; but it is past. I am the devil's now ; I have 
given myself to him ; I am his ; him I must serve ; 
with him must I go to hell ; I will be his ; I will 
serve him ; I will go with him to hell ; I cannot be 
saved ; I will not be saved ; I must, I will, I will 
be damned ! ' She then began praying to the devil. 
We began, 'Arm of the Lord, awake, awake ! ' She 
immediately sunk down as asleep, but as soon as 
we left off broke out again with inexpressible ve- 
hemence. , . . We continued in prayer till past 
6 



82 Life of John Wesley. 

eleven, when God in a moment spoke peace to her 
soul. 

"October 27. — I was sent for to Kingswood again, 
to one of those who had been so ill before. A vio- 
lent rain began just as I set out. Just at that time 
the woman — then three miles off — cried out, ' Yon- 
der comes Wesley galloping as fast as he can!' 
When I was come she burst into a horrid laughter, 
and said : ' No power, no power ! no faith, no faith ! 
She is mine ! her soul is mine ! I have her, and will 
not let her go!' Meanwhile her pangs increased 
more and more. . . . One who was clearly con- 
vinced that this was no natural disorder said: 'I 
think Satan is let loose. I fear he will not stop 
here;' and added, 'I command thee, in the name 
of the Lord Jesus, to tell if thou hast commission 
to torment any other soul.' It was immediately 

answered : ' I have ; L y C r and S h 

J — — s.' We betook ourselves to prayer again, 
and ceased not till she began, with a clear voice 
and composed, cheerful look, to sing 'Praise God, 
from whom all blessings flow.' " 

At this time L y C r and S h J s 

were in perfect health, and living some distance 
away ; yet Wesley writes the next day : 

" October 28.— I called at Mrs. J s, at Kings- 
wood. L y C r and S h J s were 

there. It was scarce a quarter of an hour before 
the former fell into a strange agony ; and presently 



The Phenomena Explained* 83 

after, the latter. The violent convulsions all over 
their bodies were such as words cannot describe. 
Their cries and groans were too horrid to be borne. 

We poured out our souls before God till L y 

C r's agonies so increased that it seemed she 

was in the pangs of death. But in a moment God 
spoke, and both her body and soul were healed." 

Besides these, another marvelous case occurred 
November 30th, when seven persons were griev- 
ously tormented ; and Wesley and his friends con- 
tinued in prayer from the time of evening service 
till nine o'clock next morning, or about fifteen 
hours — a case almost unparalleled in the history of 
the Church. 

Various explanations have been offered for these 
occurrences ; but it is a noteworthy fact that, with 
few exceptions, they all took place in the year 1739, 
under Wesley's preaching, and in the city and 
neighborhood of Bristol. No such demonstration 
seems to have attended the preaching of Whitefield 
or Charles Wesley, though quite as faithful as that 
of Wesley, and far more impassioned. Similar ef- 
fects followed the preaching of Cennick also at 
Bristol, and the Rev. Ralph Erskine writes Wesley 
that they had had something analogous in Scotland 
in the revival that then prevailed there. Wesley, 
five years after, when he had heard all that was to 
be said against them, and after they had ceased, 
gives the following as his explanation of them on 



84 Life of John Wesley. 

calm and full consideration; and none better is 
likely to be offered. He says : 

"They may be easily accounted for, either on 
principles of reason or Scripture. First, how easy 
it is to suppose that a strong, lively, and sudden ap- 
prehension of the heinousness of sin, the wrath of 
God, and the bitter pains of eternal death should 
affect the body as well as the soul during the pres- 
ent laws of vital union ? . . . Yea, we may question 
whether, while this union subsists, it be possible for 
the mind to be affected in so violent a degree, with- 
out some or other of those bodily symptoms follow- 
ing. Secondly, . . . we are to add to the consider- 
ation of natural causes the agency of those spirits 
who still excel in strength, and, as far as they have 
leave from God, will not fail to torment when they 
cannot destroy; to tear those that are coming to 
Christ. It is also remarkable that there is plain 
Scripture precedent of every symptom which has 
lately appeared." 

This year Wesley's mother attained to a new 
experience. She had begun to entertain " strange 
fears concerning him, being convinced that he had 
greatly erred from the faith ; " but this did not last 
long. Wesley writes: " September 3, 1739, 1 talked 
largely with my mother, who told me that till a 
short time since she had scarce heard such a thing 
mentioned as having God's Spirit bearing witness 
with our spirit; much less did she imagine that this 



Publications — Calvinism. 85 

was the common privilege of all true believers. 
' Therefore/ said she, * I never durst ask it for my- 
self; but two or three weeks ago, while my son Hall 
was pronouncing these words in delivering the cup 
to me, ' The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which 
was given for thee/ the words struck through my 
heart, and I knew God, for Christ's sake, had for- 
given me all my sins.' " After this Mrs. Wesley re- 
sided chiefly in London, and heartily embraced the 
doctrines of John and Charles, and attended upon 
their ministry. 

Wesley's publications now began to be important. 
Besides numerous tracts, he published in 1739 a 
beautiful abridgment of the "Life of Halyburton" 
and a book of hymns, A separation that took 
place in 1741 between Wesley and Whitefield, and 
their respective followers, on the doctrines of Cal- 
vinism, added to the list. Whitefield, while in Amer- 
ica, had embraced Calvinistic views, and Wesley felt 
bound to oppose him. He says : " Call it by what 
name you please — 'election/ 'pretention/ 'predesti- 
nation/ or 'reprobation '—it comes in the end to the 
same thing. The sense of all is this : By virtue of 
an unchangeable, irresistible decree of God, one part 
of mankind are infallibly saved and the rest infal- 
libly damned, it being impossible that any of the 
former should be damned or that any of the latter 
should be saved." Such a doctrine, he asserts, 
among other monstrous consequences, makes all 



86 Life of John Wesley. 

preaching vain, tends to destroy our zeal for good 
works, and makes God, in saying one thing and 
meaning another — in pretending a love which he 
has not, and in condemning millions of souls to ever- 
lasting fire for continuing in sin, which, for want 
of grace he gives them not, they are unable to 
avoid — "as more false, more cruel, and more unjust 
than the devil." He adds: "This is the blasphemy 
clearly contained in the horrible decree of predes- 
tination. And here I fix my foot; on this I join 
issue with every asserter of it. You represent God 
as worse than the devil ; but you say you can prove 
it by Scripture. Hold ! What will you prove by 
Scripture? That God is w T orse than the devil? It 
cannot be. Whatever Scripture proves, it never 
can prove this; whatever its true meaning, this 
cannot be its true meaning. Do you ask, 'What 
is its true meaning then?' If I say I know T not 
you have gained nothing, for there are many script- 
ures the true sense whereof neither you nor I shall 
know till death is sw T allow T ed up in victory. But 
this I know 7 : better it w 7 ere to say it had no sense 
at all than to say it had such a sense as this." 

The differences that had arisen between him and 
the London Moravians increased, too ; and he was 
at length forbidden the use of the Moravian pul- 
pits. He then withdrew himself from them en- 
tirely. There was also much backsliding in the 
societies at this period, and a general want of any 



A New Means for Good. 87 

great religious success during 1740 and 1741. At- 
tacks upon him and his doctrines through the press 
steadily continued, and the mob kept up their fu- 
rious violence toward him while preaching; but 
never for a moment did his courage or confidence 
give way. He was constantly engaged in traveling, 
preaching, and writing. Besides this, he undertook 
various laborious works of charity in Bristol and 
London for the relief of the poor. Being sepa- 
rated from Whiten" eld and the Moravians, he be- 
gan to purge and organize more perfectly- the socie- 
ties that were now properly his own. Such as ap- 
peared guilty, and would not promise amendment, 
were not allowed to remain with them. To the 
rest he gave tickets, which were renewed every 
quarter, by which he certified to the membership 
of those who bore them. These he considered to 
be equivalent to the "commendatory letters" men- 
tioned in the New Testament; and they also gave 
opportunity of removing any disorderly member in 
a quiet and inoffensive way — i.e., by ceasing to give 
him a ticket. 

An incident put a new and most potent means 
for good into his hands. At Bristol in 1742, when 
some of the principal members had met with Wes- 
ley to consider how they might pay the large debt 
that remained on their meeting-house, one of them 
proposed : " Let every member of the society give 
a penny a week till the debt is paid." Another 



Life of John Wesley. 



answered : " Many of them are poor, and cannot 
afford it." " Then/' said the former, " put eleven 
of the poorest with me ; and if they can give any 
thing, well. I will call on them weekly, receive 
what they give, and make up what is wanting." 
"It was done," says Wesley; "and in a while some 
of these informed me they found such and such a 
one did not live as they ought. It struck me that 
this was the very thing that was wanting so long." 
Thus class-meetings began. Each class met once a 
week with their leader, who conversed with them 
one by one, each meeting being opened and ended 
with prayer and singing. " It can scarce be con- 
ceived," says Wesley, "what advantages have been 
reaped by this providential regulation. Many now 
experienced that Christian fellowship of which they 
had not so much as an idea before. They began to 
bear one another's burdens, and naturally to care 
for each other's welfare. And as they had a more 
intimate acquaintance, so they had a more endeared 
affection for each other. . . . For this I can never 
sufficiently praise God, the unspeakable usefulness 
of the institution having ever since been more and 
more manifest." 

One more strong weapon completed the equip- 
ment of Methodism for the holy warfare. Hitherto 
Wesley's only regular congregations were at Kings- 
wood, Bristol, and the Foundry. In 1742 he began 
to enlarge the sphere of his operations, and to em- 



On His Preaching Tours. 



ploy for himself and his assistants the itinerancy. 
Fourteen weeks he spent in a tour through Wales. 
He then took a trip to the North of England, 
preaching at all the towns and villages he came to, 
and on his return to Bristol. This was the be- 
ginning of his itinerant labors, w T hich thereafter 
never ceased to the day of his death. He soon 
made it the practice of all his preachers, and it re- 
mains one of the most important institutions of all 
important Methodist churches throughout the world. 
At Newcastle, on his arrival there May 28, 1742, 
Wesley was surprised and shocked at the abound- 
ing wickedness. Drunkenness and swearing seemed 
general, and even the mouths of the little children 
were full of oaths. On Sunday morning, at seven 
o'clock, he took his stand near the pump, in "the 
poorest and most contemptible part of the town, 
crowded with keelmen and sailors using the lan- 
guage of hell." He began by singing the old hun- 
dredth Psalm and tune. " Three or four people 
came to see what was the matter," but before he 
finished preaching his congregation consisted of 
from twelve to fifteen hundred persons. When the 
service was ended, "the people stood gaping with 
the most profound astonishment," upon which he 
said : " If you desire to know who I am, my name 
is John Wesley. At five in the evening, with God's 
help, I design to preach here again." At five he 
took his stand on the hill, which was covered from 



90 Life of John Wesley. 

top to bottom with a congregation the largest he 
had ever yet seen, though he had preached some- 
times to twenty thousand people at Moorfields and 
Kensington Commons, in London. "After preach- 
ing," he says, "the poor people were ready to tread 
me under foot out of pure love and kindness;" but 
he could not stay. Next morning he set out at 
three o'clock, and rode about eighty miles. The 
next day he rode to Bristol, on the way holding a 
prayer-meeting at Knaresborough. At Bristol John 
Nelson lived, and here he had been laboring with 
great success. At night Wesley preached to a vast 
multitude, and held service for two hours and a 
half. The next three days he spent preaching in 
Bristol and about in the surrounding neighborhood. 
He then set out for Epworth. The next day after 
his arrival there being Sunday, he offered to assist 
Mr. Romley, the curate, either by preaching or 
reading prayers; but his offer was declined, and 
Romley preached against enthusiasts in a very of- 
fensive sermon. After service, John Taylor gave 
notice, as the people were coming out of church, 
that Wesley, not being permitted to preach in the 
church, would preach in the church-yard at six 
o'clock. Accordingly at that hour he stood on his 
father's tombstone and preached to the largest con- 
gregation Epworth had ever seen. He remained 
eight days, and every night preached from his fa- 
ther's tombstone. Here they dared not disturb him. 



Successful Labors at Epworih. 91 

His preaching was attended with amazing power. 
The people wept alond ; some dropped down as dead ; 
his voice was drowned by the cries of penitents, and 
many found peace with God in the old church-yard. 
A gentleman who had not been at public worship 
of any kind before for more than thirty years stood 
motionless as a statue. "Sir," asked Wesley, "are 
you a sinner?" "Sinner enough," said he, and still 
stood staring upward till his wife and servant, who 
were both iii tears, put him into his chaise and drove 
him home. 

The last service lasted about three hours. Wes- 
ley writes: "We scarce knew how to part. O let 
none think his labor of love is lost because the fruit 
does not immediately appear! Near forty years 
did my father labor here, but he saw little fruit of 
his labor. I took some pains among this people too, 
and my strength also seemed spent in vain; but 
now the fruit appeared. There were scarce any in 
the town on whom either my father or I had taken 
any pains formerly ; but the seed sown so long since 
now sprung up, bringing forth repentance and re- 
mission of sins." 

Thus the work was established also at Ep worth. 
In the neighborhood some societies had previously 
been formed. " Their angry neighbors," says Wes- 
ley, " carried a whole load of these new heretics be- 
fore a magistrate ; but when he asked what they had 
done, there was a deep silence— for that was a point 



92 Life of John Wesley. 

their conductors had forgotten. At length one said : 
" They pretend to be better than other people, and 
pray from morning till night." Another said: 
"They have converted my wife. Till she went 
among them she had such a tongue, and now she is 
quiet as a lamb." "Take them back! take them 
back!" cried the justice, "and let them convert all 
the scolds in town ! " 

On leaving Ep worth he went to Sheffield, where 
he spent four days preaching, and thence to Coven- 
try, to Gresham, and to Stroud, and thence to Bris- 
tol, June 28th. 

July 23, 1742, his venerable mother passed from 
earth to heaven, at the Foundry. Charles w T as ab- 
sent, but John and her five daughters were with 
her. "She had no doubt or fear, nor any desire 
but to depart and be with Christ." Early in the 
morning of the day she died, on awaking out of 
sleep, she cried : " My dear Saviour, art thou come 
to help me in my last extremity?" In the after- 
noon an intercessory meeting was held for her in 
the chapel, at the end of which Wesley returned to 
her. He found her pulse almost gone, and her 
fingers dead. Her look w r as calm, and her eyes 
fixed upward. They prayed and sung a requiem. 
Within an hour she died without a struggle, or 
groan, or sigh. They then gathered about her bed 
and fulfilled her last request, uttered just before 
she lost her speech: "Children, as soon as I am re- 



Buries His Mother — Itinerating. 93 

leased, sing a psalm of praise to God." They sung 
the psalm, and on Sunday, August 1st, in the pres- 
ence of an immense multitude, Wesley himself 
preached the funeral-sermon from Rev. xx. 12, 13, 
and performed the last rites. "It was," says he, 
"one of the most solemn assemblies I ever saw, or 
expect to see this side of eternity." 

Till November Wesley labored in London and 
Bristol, but then, Charles Wesley having founded 
a society at Newcastle, he set out for the North. 
On arriving at Newcastle, November 13th, he met 
"the wild, staring, loving society," as he calls them, 
and began to preach. Great power attended him. 
On one occasion six or seven dropped down as dead ; 
another time several of the genteel people were 
constrained to roar because of the disquietness of 
their hearts. In six weeks there were eight hun- 
dred persons joined together in society, besides 
many others benefited in the neighboring towns 
and villages. A meeting-house became necessary, 
and on December 20 the foundation-stone w r as 
laid. The building was estimated to cost £700, 
and Wesley had just twenty-six shillings toward it. 
But he went on, "nothing doubting, but as it was 
begun for God's sake, he would provide w T hat was 
needful for the finishing of it." He preached his 
farewell sermon December 20th. Men, women, and 
children hung upon him ; and even after he started 
on his journey "a muckle woman" kept her hold 



94 Life of John Wesley. 

of him and ran by his horse's side through thick 
and thin till the town was cleared. 

During 1743 he extended his itinerant labors 
still farther, traveling into Cornwall, and beyond 
Newcastle into the North of England, enduring 
many hardships and meeting with many strange 
adventures. On returning to Newcastle, February 
14th, he found that seventy-six had forsaken the 
society, a large proportion of them because their 
ministers refused them the sacrament as long as 
they continued Methodists. Thirty-three others 
had left because their husbands, wives, parents, 
masters, or acquaintance objected; five because such 
bad things were said of the society; nine because 
they would not be laughed at ; and one because she 
was afraid of falling into fits. Sixty-four more he 
expelled, among them two for swearing, two for Sab- 
bath-breaking, two for selling liquor, seventeen 
for drunkenness, three for quarreling, one for beat- 
ing his wife, three for lying, one for laziness, and 
twenty-nine for lightness and carelessness. 

In Staffordshire, in "the black country," there 
began about this time to be dreadful riots, the mob 
breaking the houses and furniture of the Method- 
ists, and beating Wesley himself almost to death. 
So it was also in Cornwall. Many of these out- 
rages were prompted by the parsons, and the mag- 
istrates would give no protection. But God pro- 
tected them, and their work prospered. Often the 



Delivered from a Mob. 95 

ringleaders of the mob would themselves be con- 
verted. At Walsal, in Staffordshire, the rioters 
seized Wesley, and driving off all his friends, sur- 
rounded him. Some one tried to grasp him by the 
collar and drag him down ; a big fellow just behind 
struck him several times with a club; one man 
struck him in the breast, and another on the mouth, 
so that the blood gushed out. He stood and asked, 
"Are you willing to hear me speak?" They cried, 
" No, no ! Knock out his brains ! down with him ! 
kill him at once!" Wesley asked again: "What 
evil have I done? Which of you have I wronged 
in word or deed?" Again they cried, "Bring him 
away! bring him away!" Wesley, upon this, be- 
gan to pray, and instantly a man who just before 
had headed the mob turned and said: "Sir, I will 
spend my life for you ; follow me, and no one shall 
hurt a hair of your head." Two or three others 
then joined him, one of them a prize-fighter in- a 
beer-garden, and Wesley was saved. He writes: 
"A little before ten o'clock God brought me safe to 
Wednesburg, having lost only one flap of my waist- 
coat and a little skin from one of my hands. From 
the beginning to the end I found the same presence 
of mind as if I had been in my own study." 

Five days after, Charles Wesley walked through 
the town and boldly preached from Rev. ii. 10: 
" Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer ; 
behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, 



96 Life of John Wesley. 

that ye may he tried ; and ye shall have tribulation 
ten days; be thou faithful unto death, and I will 
give thee a crown of life/' He says: "It was a 
most glorious time. Our souls w T ere satisfied as 
w 7 ith marrow and fatness.' ' 

In Cornwall much hardship was endured. Wes- 
ley and John Nelson traveled and slept together. 
Their bed w T as the floor. Wesley used Nelson's 
top coat for his pillow, and Nelson took "Burkitt's 
Notes" for his. One morning Wesley turned over 
and, slapping Nelson on the side, jocularly exclaimed, 
" Brother Nelson, let us be of good cheer, for the 
skin is off but one side yet!" It was seldom that 
any one gave them either meat or drink. One day 
as Wesley stopped to eat blackberries, he said: 
"Brother Nelson, we ought to be thankful that 
there are plenty of blackberries, for this is the best 
country I ever saw for getting an appetite, but the 
w r orst for getting food." But Cornwall soon had 
flourishing societies established, and Methodist itin- 
erants suffered no longer. 

In London two more chapels were secured in 
1743. The same year the " General Bules " were first 
adopted and published at Newcastle. The appoint- 
ment of stewards in the several societies was now 
also begun, and the organization of the "United 
Societies" was complete. 

Meantime it was found that the Methodists "died 
well." Elizabeth Davis, after she was speechless, 






Some Important Duties. 



was desired to hold up her hand if she knew she 
was going to God, and immediately she held up 
both. Another said: "I am very ill, but I am 
very well. O I am happy, happy, happy! My 
spirit rejoices in God my Saviour. Life or death 
is all one to me. I have no darkness, no cloud. 
My body indeed is weak and in pain, but my soul 
is all joy and praise." John Woolley, a child of 
thirteen years, threw his arms wide open and said, 
"Come, come, Lord Jesus, I am thine!" and 
breathed his last. Among others Heziah Wesley, 
"full of thought-fulness, resignation, and love, com- 
mended her soul into the hands of Jesus and fell 
on sleep." 

Visiting the sick in person Wesley insisted upon 
as an imperative Christian duty ; sending help was 
not enough. "One great reason," he says, "why 
the rich' have so little sympathy for the poor is be- 
cause they so seldom visit them. . . . All who de- 
sire to escape the everlasting fire, and to inherit the 
everlasting kingdom, are equally concerned accord- 
ing to his power to practice this important duty." 

Family religion and the instruction of children 
was another most important duty in Wesley's eyes. 
In a tract he published upon the subject, translated 
from the French, he asserts that "the wickedness 
of children is generally owing to the fault or neg- 
lect of their parents. The souls of children ought 
to be fed as often as their bodies;" and Methodists 



98 Life of Jul ui Wesley. 



are urged not to send their sons "to any of the 
large public schools (for they are nurseries of all 
manner of wickedness), but to a private school, 
kept by some pious man who endeavors to instruct 
a select number of children in religion and learn- 
ing." Wesley no doubt spoke from his own expe- 
rience at the Charterhouse school. He also pub- 
lished a sermon on the same subject, as well as an 
abridgment of a work on "Learning and Knowl- 
edge," by Dr. John Norris, The following extract 
shows his views on an important matter in this con- 
nection : 

" I cannot, with any patience, reflect that out of 
so short a time as human life — consisting, it may be, 
of fifty or sixty years — nineteen or twenty shall be 
spent in hammering out a little Latin and Greek, 
and in learning a company of poetical fictions and 
fantastic stories. . . . How many excellent and 
useful things might be learned while boys are 
thumbing and murdering Hesiod and Homer! 
Of what significance is such stuff as this to the ac- 
complishments of a reasonable soul? What im- 
provement can it be to my understanding to know 
the amours of Pyramus and Thisbe, or of Hero 
and Leander? Let any man consider human nat- 
ure and tell me whether a boy is fit to be trusted 
with Ovid. And yet to books such as these our 
youth is dedicated. . . . The measure of prosecut- 
ing learning is its usefulness to sood life, and conse- 



His Educational Views, 99 

quently all prosecution of it beyond or besides this 
end is impertinent and immoderate. For my own 
part I intend to study nothing at all but what serves 
to the advancement of piety and good life. I have 
spent about thirteen years in the most celebrated 
university in the world in pursuing both such learn- 
ing as the academical standard requires and as my 
private genius inclined me to ; but I intend to spend 
my uncertain remainder of time in studying only 
what makes for the moral improvement of my mind 
and the regulation of my life. More particularly, 
I shall apply myself to read such books as are 
rather persuasive than instructive ; such as warm, 
kindle, and enlarge the affections, and awaken the 
divine sense in the soul ; being convinced by every 
day's experience that I have more need of heat 
than light; though were I for more light, still I 
think the love of God is the best light of the soul 
of man." 

All, may not agree with him, but Wesley was a 
wise man. In matters in which he had such personal 
experience his words deserve very serious attention. 
Let it be remembered that he was no fanatic, he 
was the embodiment of common sense — only it was 
all religious sense. 

Instances of his practical common sense are 
found in his dealing with some honest but mis- 
guided people who mingled dross with their gold. 
One convert, a few davs after his conversion, came 



100 Life of John Wesley. 

riding through Newcastle, hallooing and shouting 
and driving all the people before hirn, telling them 
that God had revealed to him that he should be a 
king, and should tread all his enemies under his 
feet. Wesley arrested him and sent him home, ad- 
vising him to cry day and night to God, lest the 
devil should gain an advantage over him. On an- 
other occasion two, who called themselves prophets, 
came to Wesley in London, stating that they were 
sent from God to say he would shortly be "born'd 
again," and that unless he turned them out they 
would stay in the house till it was done. He gravely 
answered that he would not turn them out, and 
took them down into the room of the society. Here 
he left them. "It was tolerably cold, and they had 
neither meat nor drink. However, there they sat 
from morning to evening, w T hen they quietly w T ent 
away, and I have heard nothing from them since." 



CHAPTER IV. 

First Conferences — ■ Ireland — Arrested — John Nelson — 
Helping the Poor — Education — Personal Appearance — 
Sanctification — Apostolical Succession — "Harmless Di- 
versions" — Happy Experiences — Methodist Soldiers — 
Converted Children. 

"TTTESLEY'S first Conference was held Mon- 
V V day, June 5, 1744, at the Foundry in Lon- 
don, and continued five days. Besides the two 
Wesleys, four clergymen — John Hodges, Henry 
Piers, Samuel Taylor, and John Meriton — were 
present; and four lay preachers — Thomas Richards, 
Thomas Maxfield, John Bennett, and John Downes. 
The day before the Conference met, besides the 
usual Sunday service at the Foundry, a love-feast 
was held and the sacrament administered to the 
whole of the London society, numbering between 
two thousand and three thousand souls. The next 
day the Conference proceeded to business. It was 7 
stated that the Methodists were divided into four 
sections : (1) The United Societies, consisting of all 
awakened persons who would join; (2) the bands, 
or those who were thought to have remission of 
sins; (3) the select societies, composed of those 
who seemed to walk in the light of God's counte- 
nance; and (4) the penitents, or persons who for 

(101) 



102 Life of John Wesley. 

the present were fallen from grace. Regulations 
were adopted in regard to three points: (1) What 
to teach; (2) how to teach; (3) how to regulate 
doctrine, discipline, and practice. The rules for 
the preachers were substantially the same as now 
exist. In addition, they were " as often as possible 
to rise at four o'clock ; to spend two or three min- 
utes every hour in earnest prayer; to observe 
strictly the morning and evening hour of retire- 
ment; to rarely employ above an hour in conver- 
sation; to keep w 7 atch-nights once a month; to 
speak freely to each other, and never to part with- 
out prayer." 

From this time Conferences were held annually. 
The next year they met in Bristol, as also the next 
two years following. At the Conference of 1745 
fourteen itinerants were reported to be then at 
work in England and Wales. In 1747 there were 
twenty-two, besides thirty-two local preachers and 
all the Calvinistic Methodists. 

They now crossed over into Ireland. In 1745 
an English soldier had formed a small society in 
Dublin and preached to them. Soon after, Benja- 
min La Trobe, a Baptist student from Glasgow, ar- 
rived and became their leader; and in 1746 John 
Cennick came over on invitation of the society 
and preached w T ith such success that the society 
soon increased to about two hundred members. 
Then Thomas Williams, one of Wesley's itinerants, 



More False Charges. 103 

came, formed another society, and wrote for Wes- 
ley. Wesley determined to go without delay, and 
arrived in Dublin August 9, 1747. He preached 
the same day, and continued laboring for a fort- 
night, when he returned to London, being succeed- 
ed by his brother Charles. This was the first of 
forty-nine times that he crossed the Irish Channel 
in his labor of love. The results were great. The 
societies increased rapidly in the island; some of 
Wesley's most eminent colaborers, such as Thomas 
Walsh, Adam Clarke, Henry Moore, and others, 
were gained here; and it was by the hand of his 
Irish converts that Methodism was afterward plant- 
ed in America, and either planted or nourished in 
the West Indies, in Africa, India, and Australia. 

Everywhere persecution was rife. At Oxford, 
after Wesley had preached a sermon in which he 
had dealt faithfully with the members of the uni- 
versity, he was no longer allowed to preach there, 
though his office as fellow required it. Attacks 
through the press increased both in number and 
violence. Gibson, Bishop of London, issued a 
pamphlet charging the Methodists with setting the 
Government at defiance and breaking the rules of 
the Church of which they were members, besides 
doing a disservice to religion by their doctrines 
and practices, among which he specifies "their set- 
ting the standard of religion so high." The Bishop 
of Lichfield published "A Charge Against Enthu- 



104 Life of John Wesley. 

siasm," in which he declared them "vain and en- 
thusiastical," etc. Several others of less note but 
of greater virulence published tracts lampooning 
and abusing them as "a set of creatures of the 
lowest rank, most of them illiterate and of desper- 
ate fortunes; cursing, reviling, and showing their 
teeth at every one that does not approve of their 
frenzy and extravagance ; " " crafty and malicious ; " 
"hot-brained cobblers," etc. 

A malicious accusation that threatened serious 
consequences was that they were rebels to the king 
and Jesuits in disguise. England was then in a 
ferment of excitement under apprehension of pub- 
lic danger. On February 15, 1744, the king had 
received information that the French, under the 
Pretender, and in support of the Catholic cause, 
were about to invade England. Great prepara- 
tions were made. Troops were raised, and every 
thing put into a posture of defense. The coast was 
watched with the utmost care, and all reputed pa- 
pists were forbidden to remain w T ithin ten miles of 
London and Westminster. The Methodists were 
said to be Catholics because they insisted so strong- 
ly on the necessity of good works. A magistrate 
came to the house where Wesley lodged in search 
of papists. Wesley satisfied him for the time, and 
he went away. But in a short time after, Wesley 
received a summons to appear before the court. 
He did so, but upon his taking the oaths of fealty 



Cha vies A r rested. 105 



to the king and signing the declaration against 
popery, he was permitted to go in peace. Still it was 
currently reported that he had been seen with the 
Pretender in France. Charles Wesley, too, hap- 
pened to pray that "the Lord would call home his 
banished ; " and this was construed as a prayer for 
the Pretender, and he was summoned to appear be- 
fore the court to answer the charge of having ut- 
tered "treasonable words." He appeared on the 
day fixed, and engaged to prove that the Method- 
ists "to a man were true members of the Church 
of England and loyal subjects," and then desired 
them to administer to him the oaths. All the wit- 
nesses retracted their accusations, but he was kept 
eight hours enduring insults at the magistrates' 
door until they told him he might go, for they had 
naught against him. "Sir," said Charles, " that is 
not sufficient ; I cannot depart till my character is 
cleared." At length their worships reluctantly ac- 
knowledged that his " loyalty was unquestioned," 
and he took his leave for Bristol, where the Meth- 
odists met him on a hill, and joined him in "sing- 
ing praises lustily and with a good courage." 

Yet at Brecon, in August, the grand jury made 
a presentment to the judge that "the Methodists 
held illegal meetings," and that they "collected 
together great numbers of disorderly persons, very 
much endangering the peace of our sovereign lord 
the king," and requesting the judge, if the author- 



106 Life of John Wesley. 

ity of the present court was not sufficient, to apply- 
to some superior authority to put an end to the 
" villainous scheme" of "such dangerous assem- 
blies." Meantime the violence of the mob was 
invoked to do -what the law refused. "In Corn- 
wall/' says Wesley, "the war against the Method- 
ists was carried on with far more vigor than that 
against the Spaniards." Thomas Westall was pulled 
down while preaching and committed to the house 
of correction as a vagrant, where he was kept till 
the next quarter sessions. At St. Ives they saluted 
Wesley with stones and dirt, and pulled down the 
meeting-house "for joy that Admiral Matthews had 
beat the Spaniards." A poor woman complained 
to the mayor that some one had thrown a huge 
stone into her house and come within a few inches 
of killing her sucking child. His worship damned 
her, and said she might go about her business. At 
Exeter a mob gathered at the door of the meeting- 
house and pelted those who entered with potatoes, 
mud, and sticks. On coming out all were beaten 
without exception, many trampled under foot, and 
some of the women lamed, and others stripped 
and then rolled into the kennel, their faces being- 
smeared with lamp-black, flour, and dirt. Threats, 
too, were frequently made of impressing into the 
army all who attended their meetings; and a num- 
ber of Wesley's itinerants actually were impressed, 
John Nelson amono: them. 



Arrest of John Nelson. 107 

Sometimes, however, the Methodists came off 
victors. At Nottingham, before he had been im- 
pressed, Nelson was assailed by a mob who sur- 
rounded the meeting-house and threatened to pull 
it down. The constable arrested John for creating 
the riot and took him to an alderman, the crowd 
following with huzzas and curses. The alderman 
asked his name, and said : " I wonder you cannot 
stay at home ; you see the mob won't suffer you to 
preach at Nottingham." John replied that he had 
not been aware that Nottingham was governed by 
a mob, most towns being governed by their magis- 
trates, and immediately began to preach and "set 
life and death before him." "Don't preach here," 
said the alderman ; while the constable began to be 
uneasy, and asked how he was to dispose of his 
prisoner. "Take him to your house," said the al- 
derman. The constable asked to be excused; and 
at length w r as directed to "conduct him back to the 
place from which he had brought him, and to be 
careful he was not injured." "So," says honest 
John, "he brought me to our brethren again, and 
left us to give thanks to God for all his mercies." 
On another occasion at Norwich, while the mob 
were shouting, swearing, and throwing stones at 
the front of Isaac Barnes's house because he was a 
Methodist, his sister quietly heated the poker, and 
then letting it cool till it had lost its redness, she 
rushed into the street and pretended to strike the 



108 Life of John Wesley. 

assembled ruffians. One seized the poker, but in- 
stantly let it go. Others in quick succession did 
the same ; and in a little while most of the valorous 
crowd were in burning agony, and, surprised and 
scattered, they beat a hasty retreat. 

However, Methodism still made its w r ay. Wes- 
ley and his itinerants continued incessantly to preach 
and labor throughout the kingdom. Wesley was 
always on the wing, and yet he found time to read 
and write and visit, besides organizing and pushing 
forward all sorts of important enterprises. In Lon- 
don in 1746, observing the frequent need by the 
poor — who came to him for food and clothing — of 
physic and medical attendance also, he " thought 
of a kind of desperate expedient: 'I will prepare 
and give them physic myself.'" He had made the 
study of medicine his diversion for many years ; he 
now applied himself to it anew, and took to his 
assistance an apothecary and an experienced sur- 
geon. "In five months medicines were given to 
above five hundred persons." Thus was founded 
the first free dispensary in England, though not 
without considerable opposition from physicians and 
others. 

He was also anxious that his preachers should 
study. Devoutly thankful as he was for his uned- 
ucated but soul-saving itinerants, he saw that if 
intellectually and socially inferior to their neigh- 
bors, while they might be successful in the conver- 



Orplian-liouse and Poor-house. 109 

sion of ignorant and rude sinners, thev would be 
in danger of being neglected if not despised by 
those who were superior. Accordingly he ad- 
dressed Dr. PhilijD Doddridge, then at the head of 
a school in England, asking his advice as to what 
books to recommend. Doddridge replied, naming 
various works on logic, metaphysics, ethics, Jewish 
antiquities, history, science, and divinity, from 
which he probably furnished a list to his preach- 
ers. 

He also had his "orphan-house" at Newcastle, 
at once a place of worship, a school and home for 
orphans, Wesley's northern home, and the "theo- 
logical institution" for his preachers. On his visit 
in 1747 there were several young men there pre- 
paring for the itinerancy, with whom Wesley, dur- 
ing his stay, " read over a compendium of rhetoric 
and a system of ethics." 

He had also, in connection with the Foundry in 
London, a "poor-house," consisting of two small 
houses, where needy and deserving widows were 
maintained. In 1748 Wesley writes: "In this we 
have now nine widows, one blind woman, two poor 
children, and two upper servants — a maid and a 
man. I might add four or five preachers; for I 
myself, as well as the other preachers who are in 
town, diet with the poor, on the same food and at 
the same table; and we rejoice herein as a com- 
fortable earnest of our eatine- bread together in 



110 Life of John. Wesley. 

our Father's kingdom." Then there was a lending 
society. Observing that people often needed small 
sums of money which they did not know where to 
borrow, Wesley went from one end of London to 
another begging ; and in this way, and by a public 
collection afterward, he at length raised a fund of 
one hundred and twenty pounds. This was lodged 
in the hands of stewards, who attended every 
Tuesday morning for the purpose of lending to 
those who wanted any small amount, not exceed- 
ing five pounds, to be repaid within three months. 
Hundreds of the honest poor were greatly assisted 
by this device. 

He also issued many valuable publications from 
1744 to 1747. Among them was a tract on " Re- 
vivals of Religion," extracted from the writings of 
Jonathan Edwards, and designed to meet the ob- 
jections made to his work by the arguments of 
another. The following is a synopsis: "It is no 
sign that a work is not divine because it is carried 
on in a way unusual and extraordinary. The 
Spirit is sovereign in his operations. Neither is 
a work to be judged by any effects on the bodies 
of men, such as tears, tremblings, groans, etc. ; for 
there is reason to believe that great outpourings of 
the Spirit, both in the prophetic and apostolic 
ages, were not wholly without these extraordinary 
effects. Further, though many of the converts 
may be guilty of great imprudences and irregular- 



Ot he t ' Pa b Ilea lions. Ill 

ities, neither is this a sign that the work is not the 
work of God; for in a mixed multitude of wise 
and unwise, young and old, all under powerful im- 
pressions, no wonder that some should behave them- 
selves imprudently. It was thus in the apostolic 
Churches, and this is not unlikely to continue while 
weakness is one of the elements of human nature. 
There may be errors in judgment and some delu- 
sions of Satan intermixed with the revival, but 
that is not conclusive evidence that the work in 
general is not the work of the Holy Ghost. Some 
may fall into scandalous practices; but if we look 
into Church history we shall find no instance of a 
great revival of religion but what has been attend- 
ed with such relapses. The work may have been 
promoted by ministers strongly preaching the ter- 
rors of the law; but what of that? If there be 
really a hell of dreadful and never-ending tor- 
ments, ought not those exposed to it be earnestly 
warned of their fearful danger? It may be un- 
reasonable to think of frightening a man to heaven, 
but it is not unreasonable to frighten him away 
from hell." 

He also published "A Word to a Drunkard" and 
"A Word to an Unhappy Woman," besides other 
needful tracts. Among other things he animad- 
verts on " harmless diversions," and records notable 
testimony as to their harmful influence. Charles 
Wesley was preaching against them at Lane-east, 



112 Life of John Wesley. 

in Cornwall, in a church of which the venerable 
Mr. Bennett was the clergyman, two other clergy- 
men — Messrs. Meriton and Thompson — being also 
among his auditors. "By harmless diversions," 
exclaimed Charles, "I was kept asleep in the dev- 
il's arms secure in a state of damnation for eight- 
een years! " No sooner had he said this than Mer- 
iton added aloud, "And I for twenty-five." "And 
I," cried Thompson, "for thirty-five." "And I," 
said the aged Bennett, " for above seventy." 

A most important change in Wesley's views now 
took place. As late as 1745, in a letter to Westley 
Hall, he had expressed in the strongest manner 
that there was "a threefold order of ministers not 
only authorized by its apostolical institution, but 
also by the written word," and that it would be 
wrong to administer baptism or the Lord's Supper 
without " a commission so to do from those bishops 
whom we apprehend to be in a succession from the 
apostles." In short, he was still as high a Church- 
man as he well could be. But January 20, 1746, 
on the road to Bristol, he read Lord King's great 
work on the " Constitution of the Primitive Church," 
etc., in which the learned author shows that bishops 
and presbyters are the same order. He was con- 
vinced, and w rites: "In spite of the vehement 
prejudices of my education, I was ready to believe 
that this was a fair and impartial draught." His 
views were modified, and though some lingering 



The Rule of His Life. 113 

traces of High-churchism perhaps clung to him for 
many years, he was no longer a bigot. 

Wesley was now past forty years of age. His 
personal appearance is thus described by the cele- 
brated Dr. Kennscott, who heard him -preach his 
last sermon at Oxford in 1744: "He is neither tall 
nor fat, for the latter would ill become a Methodist. 
His black hair, quite smooth and parted very ex- 
actly, added to a peculiar composure in his counte- 
nance, showed him to be an uncommon man. His 
prayer was soft, short, and conformable to the rules 
of the university. His text was Acts iv. 31. He 
spoke it very slowly, and with an agreeable em- 
phasis. When he came to what he called his plain, 
practical conclusion, he fired his address with so 
much zeal and unbounded satire as quite spoiled 
what otherwise might have been turned to great 
advantage. . . . Had these things been omitted, 
and his censures moderated, I think his discourse 
as to style and delivery would have been uncom- 
monly pleasing. He is allowed to be a man of 
great parts, and that by the excellent dean of 
Christchurch (Dr. Conybeare); for the day he 
preached the dean generously said of him : ' John 
Wesley will always be thought a man of sound 
sense, though an enthusiast.' In reference to the 
latter charge, made also by another, Wesley an- 
swered : ' I make the word of God the rule of all my 
actions, and no more follow any secret impulses in- 
8 



114 Life of John Wesley. 

stead of it than I follow Mohammed or Confucius. 
I rest not on ecstasies at all, for I never feel them, 
but judge of my spiritual estate by the improve- 
ment of my heart and the tenor of my life con- 
jointly. I desire neither my dreams nor my wak- 
ing thoughts to be at all regarded, unless just so 
far as they agree with the oracles of God.' " 

Happy in his work, notwithstanding all its hard- 
ships and all its dangers, and happy in the love of 
God that burned brightly in his soul, the opinions 
of men of the world were of little moment to him. 
His constant cheerfulness under all his trials was 
proverbial. He writes to his friend Blackwell, 
while on a journey: "I am content with whatever 
entertainment I meet with, and my companions are 
always in good humor, ' because they are with me.' 
This must be the spirit of all who take journeys 
with me. If a dinner ill dressed, a hard bed, a 
poor room, a shower of rain, or a dirty road, will 
put them out of humor, it lays a burden upon me 
greater than all the rest put together. By the 
grace of God, I never fret ; I repine at nothing ; I 
am discontented with nothing. And to have per- 
sons at my ear fretting and murmuring at every 
thing, is like tearing the flesh off my bones." 

But his spirit was often sweetly refreshed. Mon- 
day, Dec. 23, 1744, he writes in his journal: "In 
the evening, while I was reading prayers at Snows- 
fields, I found such light and strength as I never 






His Spiritual Strength. 115 

remember to have had before. . . . Tuesday, 25th, 
I waked, by the grace of God, in the same spirit ; 
and about eight, being with two or three that be- 
lieved in Jesus, I felt such an awe and tender sense 
of the presence of God as greatly confirmed me 
therein. So that God was before me all the day 
long. I sought and found him in every place, and 
could truly say, when I lay down at night, ' Xow I 
have lived a day.'" At Xewcastle, July, 1748: 
" Sunday, 17. — We had a glorious hour in the 
morning. At half an hour past eight I preached 
in the Castle-garth, and again at four in the after- 
noon to a vast multitude of people. Monday, 18. — 
In the afternoon we rode to Widdington. The peo- 
ple flocked in from all parts. It was a delightful 
evening, and a delightful place under the shade of 
tall trees, and every man hung upon the word; 
none stirred his head or hand, or looked to the 
right or left, while I declared in strong terms the 
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, Thursday, 21. — 
At seven I preached (at Berwick) to a far larger 
congregation than before; and now the word of 
God was as a fire and a hammer. I began again 
and again after I had thought I had done, and the 
latter words were still stronger than the former ; so 
that I was not surprised at the number which at- 
tended next morning, when we had another joyful, 
solemn hour. Sunday, 24. — I preached at iiye (at 
Newcastle again), at half-past eight in the Castle- 



116 Life of John Wesley. 

garth, and at four in the afternoon. I was weary 
and faint when I began to speak, but my strength 
was quickly renewed. Thence we went to the so- 
ciety. I had designed to read the Eules, but I 
could not get forward. As we began so we went 
on till eight o'clock, singing and rejoicing and 
praising God. Thursday, 28. — We rode over to 
Nint-head, where I preached at eight. We then 
w T ent to Alstone. At noon I preached at the cross. 
In the evening I preached at Hindley-hill again, 
and we praised God with joyful lips. Tuesday, 
August 2. — I preached about noon at Biddick, and 
at Pelton in the evening. I intended to give an 
exhortation to the society, but as soon as we met 
the spirit of supplication fell upon us, so that I 
could hardly do any thing but pray and give 
thanks, till it was time for us to part." 

Such extracts might be multiplied. They con- 
tinually recur throughout his journal, and show 
that "the joy of the Lord w r as his strength." The 
happy experiences, too, of his converts were cause 
for rejoicing. One of these was a poor old woman 
in Glasgow. Meeting on the street one day the 
minister of the kirk she had been accustomed to 
attend, he accosted her: "O Janet, where have ye 
been, woman? I have na seen ye at the kirk for 
long." "I go," said Janet^ "among the Method- 
ists." " Am©ng the Methodists ! " said the minister ; 
"why, what glide get ye there, woman?" "Glory 



Soldier Methodists, 117 

to God!" replied Janet. "I do get gude, for God 
for Christ's sake has forgiven me au ray sins!" 
"Ah, Janet," said the minister, " be not high-minded, 
but fear; the devil is a cunning adversary." "I 
dunna care a button for the deevil," answered Ja- 
net; "I've gotten him under my feet. I ken the 
deevil can do muckle deal, but there is ane thing 
he canna do." "What is that, Janet?" "He 
canna shed abroad the love of God in my heart; 
and I'm sure I've got it there!" "Weel, weel," 
replied the good man, "if ye have got it there, 
Janet, hold it fast, and never let it go." 

Thomas Beard, " a quiet and peaceable man, who 
had lately been torn from his trade and wife and 
children, and sent away as a soldier for no other 
crime, real or pretended, than that of calling sin- 
ners to repentance, sunk after awhile under his bur- 
den ; but his soul was in nothing terrified by his 
adversaries. His fervor increasing, he w T as lodged 
in the hospital at Newcastle, where he still praised 
God continually. He was let blood, but his arm 
festered, mortified, and was cut off; two or three 
days after, God signed his discharge and called him 
up to his eternal home." John Evans, another 
soldier, became deeply convicted and sought for- 
giveness with tears. "But October 23d, as Will- 
iam Clements was at prayer," he writes, " I felt on 
a sudden a great alteration in my soul. My eyes 
overflowed with tears of love, I knew I was 



118 Life of John Wesley, 

through Christ reconciled to God, which inflamed 
my soul with fervent love to him whom I now saw 
to be my complete Redeemer." Wesley adds : " He 
continued both to preach and live the gospel till 
the battle of Fontenoy. One of his companions 
saw him there laid across a cannon (both of his 
legs having been taken off by a chain-shot) prais- 
ing God and exhorting all that were round about 
him ; which he did till his spirit returned to God." 
God's grace was sufficient to keep his servants 
steadfast even in the army, while it also made them 
famous for their courage in the field. England 
had no braver soldiers than the Methodists, and 
Methodism had no truer disciples than those in the 
ranks of war. The following extracts from two 
soldiers, writing to Wesley from the field of battle, 
illustrates what spirit they were of: "On the 29th 
we marched close to the enemy, and when I saw 
them in their camp my bowels moved toward them 
in love and pity for their souls. We lay on our 
arms all night. In the morning, April 30th, the 
cannon began to play at half an hour after four, 
and the Lord took away all fear from me, so that 
I went into the field with joy. The balls flew on 
either hand, and men fell in abundance, but noth- 
ing touched me till about two o'clock; then I re- 
ceived a ball through my left arm, and rejoiced so 
much the more. Soon after, I received another into 
my right, which obliged me to quit the field; but T 



The Conversion of Children, 119 

scarce knew whether I was on earth or in heaven. 
It was one of the sweetest days I ever enjoyed." 

And again from the other: "April 30. — The 
Lord was pleased to try our little flock, and to 
show 7 them his mighty power. Some days before, 
one of them, standing at his tent-door, broke out 
into raptures of joy. In the battle before he died 
he openly declared : ' I am going to rest from my 
labors in the bosom of Jesus.' I believe nothing 
like this was ever heard of before in the midst of 
so wicked an army as ours. Some were crying out 
in their wounds, 'I am going to my Beloved;' oth- 
ers, ' Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.' There was 
such boldness in the battle among the little despised 
flock that it made the officers as well as the com- 
mon soldiers amazed ; and they acknowledge it to 
this day. The hotter it grew the more strength 
was given me. I was full of joy and love, as much 
as I could well bear. Going on, I met one of the 
brethren with a little dish in his hand seeking for 
water. He smiled, and said he had 'got a sore 
wound in his leg.' I asked, 'Have you gotten 
Christ in your heart?' He answered : ' I have, and 
I have had him all the day. Blessed be God that 
I ever saw your face!'" 

The glorious work reached the hearts of children 
also. Some very remarkable cases are recorded by 
Wesley. A few of these we give, to show 7 that the 
conversion of children, even in their earliest years, 



120 Life of John Wesley. 

has been characteristic of Methodism from the be- 
ginning, September, 1744, he writes in his journal : 
"Sunday, 16. — I buried near the same place one 
who had finished her course, going to God in the 
full assurance of faith, when she was little more 
than four years old. In her last sickness (having 
been deeply serious in her behavior for several 
months before) she spent all the intervals of her 
convulsions in speaking of or to God; and when 
she perceived her strength to be nearly exhausted 
she desired all the family to come near, and prayed 
for them all, one by one ; then for her ministers, for 
the Church, and for all the world. A short time 
after, recovering from a fit, she lifted up her eyes 
and said, 'Thy kingdom come/ and died." And 
in March, 1745: "Tuesday, 18, I rode to Ponte- 
fract; on Wednesday to Epw r orth, and on Thurs- 
day, by Barley-hall, to Sheffield. I w r as glad of 
having an opportunity here of talking with a child 
I had heard of about eight years of age. She was 
convinced of sin some weeks before by the words 
of her elder brother, dying in the full triumph of 
faith. I asked her abruptly, 'Do you love God?' 
She said, 'Yes, I do love him with all my heart/ 
I said, 'Why do you love him?' She answered, 
'Because he saved me.' I asked, 'How has he 
saved you?' She replied, 'He has taken away my 
sins.' I said, 'How do you know that?' She an- 
swered: 'He told me himself on Saturday, "Thy 



Teaching of the Holy Ghost, 121 

sins are forgiven thee/' and I believe him ; and I 
pray to him without a book. I was afraid to die, 
but now I am not afraid to die ; for if I die I shall 
go to him.'" 

June, 1746, he writes again: "Saturday, 28. — I 
inquired more particularly of Mrs. N. concerning 
her little son. She said 'he appeared to have a 
continual fear of God, and an awful sense of his 
presence; that he frequently went to prayers by 
himself, and prayed for his father and many others 
by name; that he had an exceeding great tender- 
ness of conscience, being sensible of the least sin, 
and crying and refusing to be comforted when he 
thought he had in any thing displeased God; that 
a few days since he broke out into prayer aloud, 
and then said: "Mamma, I shall go to heaven 
soon, and be with the little angels ; and you will 
go there too, and my papa, but you will not go so 
soon;" and that the day before he went to a little 
girl in the house and said : " Polly, you and I must 
go to prayers. Do not mind your doll; kneel 
down now, I must go to prayers; God bids me.'" 
Wesley adds: "When the Holy Ghost teaches, is 
there any delay in learning? This child was then 
just three years old, A year or two after, he died 
in peace," 



CHAPTER V. 

Toils and Dangers — Grimsh aw — Charles Wesley's Mar- 
riage — True Religion — Grace Murray — The Earthquake 
• — 'Taming the Shrews — Preachers. 

IN 1748, after visiting Bristol, Leeds, and other 
places, Wesley set out for Ireland. Three weeks, 
however, elapsed before the w T eather allowed him 
to set sail. The interval he spent in preaching in 
churches and chapels, in inns and in the open air. 
He reached Dublin at length on March 8th, and 
next morning preached at five o'clock. From Dub- 
lin he went on a tour through the country, preach- 
ing, visiting, and meeting the classes till the end of 
May, when he returned to England. On the 2d of 
June he held his Annual Conference in London. 
A few days after he went to Bristol, and opened 
Kingswood school. Three days after, he set out for 
the North of England, preaching on the way at all 
the towns and villages through which he passed, un- 
til he reached Newcastle July 9th. Here he spent 
more than five weeks on Newcastle Circuit, constant- 
ly laboring, till on the 16th of August he started 
southward again. On the way he continued to 
preach and visit the societies as usual, and met with 
many adventures. At Halifax he attempted to 
preach to an "immense number of people roaring 
(122) 



Grimshaiu and Colbeck. 123 

like the waves of the sea." A man threw money 
among the crowd, creating great disturbance. Wes- 
ley was besmeared with dirt, and had his cheek 
laid open by a stone. Finding it impossible to 
make himself heard, he adjourned to a meadow 
near by, and spent an hour with those that followed 
him "in rejoicing and praising God." At Haworth 
he met with Grimshaw, the incumbent of the parish 
— a Methodist, and of the noblest kind. "In the 
surrounding hamlets he was accustomed to preach 
from twelve to thirty sermons weekly. Of strong 
mental power, and educated at Cambridge, he yet 
accommodated himself to his rustic hearers. His 
power in prayer was marvelous. Often he would 
sleep in his own hay-loft simply to find room in the 
parsonage for strangers. Upon the bleak mount- 
ains — often in rain and snow, with no regular meals, 
and sometimes with but a crust — he unweariedly 
pursued his itinerant labors with a cheerful and 
grateful spirit. His dress was plain, and sometimes 
shabby. Often he had but one coat and one pair 
of shoes, because of his benevolence. His congrega- 
tions were rude and rough, but hundreds of them 
were converted through his preaching. He died 
April 7, 1763, saying: ' I am as happy as I can be 
on earth, and as sure of heaven as if I was in it.' 
On his coffin was inscribed the words, ' For me to 
live is Christ, and to die is gain.' " 

From Haworth Wesley y in company with Grim- 



124 Life of John Wesley. 

shaw and Colbeck, went to Roughlee. Here the 
mob j with the connivance of the magistrate, assault- 
ed them. Wesley was struck in the face, beaten to 
the ground, and forced into a house. Grimshaw 
and Colbeck were used with the utmost violence, 
and covered with sludge. One person was dragged 
by the hair, some were beaten with clubs, others 
trampled in the mire. All this outrage was incited 
by the Rev. Geo. White, a popish renegade, but 
now the curate of Colne. At Bolton the mob 
thrust him down once or twice, but he continued 
to preach. Stones were thrown and attempts made 
to silence him. One man began to bawl in his ear, 
when a missile struck him on his cheek, and he 
stopped, Another was forcing his way through the 
crowd to him when a stone hit him in the forehead 
and covered his face with blood. A third reached 
forth to seize him, when a sharp flint struck him 
on the knuckles and made him quiet. So preach- 
ing, Wesley got back to London September 4. 
Here he spent a week, then went to Cornwall; 
thence to Bristol, and back to London again Oc- 
tober 15, where he continued to labor till the close 
of the year. 

At the Conference of this year the preachers were 
directed to visit the poor members as much as the 
rich ; in general, not to pray in public more than 
eight or ten minutes at a time ; and to avoid popu- 
larity—?. c n " the gaining a greater degree of esteem 



Charles Married — More Books. 125 

or love from the people than is for the glory of 
God." There was another matter of great inter- 
est and importance. Five years before, in his 
" Thoughts on Marriage and Celibacy," Wesley had 
strongly commended a single life. Charles Wesley 
was now courting Miss Sarah Gwynne, a lady every 
way suited to him ; but his brother's tract stood in 
the way. The Conference took the subject up, and, 
says Wesley, "in a full and friendly debate, con- 
vinced me that a believer might marry without suf- 
fering loss in his soul." Accordingly, on April 8 
of the following year, Charles was married by his 
brother, who writes : " It was a. solemn day, such 
as became the dignity of a Christian marriage." 
Charles himself says: "We were cheerful without 
mirth, serious without sadness; and my brother 
seemed the happiest person among us." 

In the latter part of the year Wesley began to pub- 
lish " all that is most valuable in the English tongue 
in three-score or four-score volumes, in order to 
provide a complete library for those who fear God." 
This involved immense additional labor through 
seven years, in which time he completed it, under 
the title "A Christian Library." In the same pe- 
riod, notwithstanding a long and serious illness, and 
besides his usual labors, he prepared and published 
certain books of instruction for Kingswood school, 
his " Notes on the New Testament," and numerous 
controversial and other tracts, among them one on 



126 Life of John Wesley. 

"Directions Concerning Pronunciation and Gest- 
ure." He also spent a month in lecturing to his 
preachers gathered at Kings wood. No one was 
more removed from fanaticism than he; but neither 
did he believe in the sufficiency of human learning 
and reason. "Human learning," said he, "is by 
no means to be rejected from religion; but if it is 
considered as a key, or the key to the mysteries of 
our redemption, instead of opening to us the king- 
dom of God, it locks us up in our own darkness. 
God is an all-speaking, all-working, all-illuminating 
essence, possessing the depths of every creature ac- 
cording to its own nature ; and when w 7 e turn from 
all impediments the divine essence becomes as cer- 
tainly the true light of our minds here as it w T ill be 
hereafter. This is not enthusiasm, but the words 
of truth and soberness." This opinion was con- 
firmed by experience. Thus at Limerick he writes : 
"The more I converse with this people the more I 
am amazed. That God hath wrought a great work 
among them is manifest ; and yet the main part of 
them — believers and unbelievers — are not able to 
give a rational account of the plainest principles of 
religion. It is plain God begins his work at the 
heart; then 'the inspiration of the highest giveth 
understanding.'" Fourteen years afterw-ard, in de- 
fending his employment of unlearned lay preach- 
ers, he says : " What I believe concerning learning 
is this — that it is highly expedient for a guide of 



Success in Ireland— Outrages. 127 

souls, but not necessary. What I believe to be ab- 
solutely necessary is a faith unfeigned, the love of 
God and our neighbor, a burning zeal for the ad- 
vancement of Christ's kingdom, with a heart and 
life wholly devoted to God. These I judge to be 
necessary in the highest degree ; and next to these 
a competent knowledge of the Scriptures, a sound 
understanding, a tolerable utterance, and a willing- 
ness to be as the filth and offscouring of the world." 
He further advises no one above twenty years of 
age to think of learning Greek or Latin, on the 
ground that he could then employ his time abun- 
dantly better. French he considered " the poorest, 
meanest language in Europe — no more comparable 
to the German or Spanish than a bagpipe is to an 
organ." 

In Ireland he met with much success, though he 
had great opposition. All sorts of slanders were 
circulated against him. At Bandon it was asserted 
that Methodism was all Jesuitism at bottom; at 
Blarney that the Methodists placed all religion 
"in wearing long whiskers." At Cork, by the se- 
cret plottings of the clergy, a mob was raised that 
committed the most horrible outrages against the 
Methodists for months together, unchecked by the 
mayor. Women as well as men were beaten and 
wounded nearly to death, their houses broken and 
their goods destroyed. Depositions were laid before 
the grand jury of the Cork assizes respecting the 



128* Life of John Wesley. 

leaders of the mob ; they were all thrown out, but 
the grand jury made a presentment, to wit : "That 
Charles Wesley and seven other Methodist preach- 
ers therein named w T ere all persons of ill-fame, vag- 
abonds, and common disturbers of his majesty's 
peace, and ought to be transported." Next spring 
several of these preachers presented themselves for 
trial. They were ordered into the dock of com- 
mon criminals. Butler, a mean fellow, the leader 
of the rabble, was the first witness against them. 
The judge, looking at him w T ith a suspicious eye, 
asked what his calling was. The worthless fellow 
hung his head, and sheepishly replied : " I sing bal- 
lads, my lord." The judge lifted up his hands in 
surprise, and said: "Here are six gentlemen in- 
dicted as vagabonds, and the first accuser is a vag- 
abond by profession." A second witness impudent- 
ly answered: "I am an anti-swaddler, my lord." 
The judge resented his insolence, and ordered him 
out of the room. Then turning to the jury he rep- 
rimanded the corporation and others for suffering 
such a vagrant as Butler to be the ringleader of a 
rabble, and commit such atrocious outrages upon 
so many of the peaceable and respectable inhabit- 
ants of the city ; and declared it was an insult to 
the court to bring such a case before him. 

An event that caused Wesley deep pain now 
occurred. Grace Murray, a young and talented 
widow of mean extraction, but a zealous, energetic, 



Grace Murray — Earthquake in London. 129 

and successful female itinerant, was chosen by him 
to be his wife, and they became formally engaged. 
She seems, however, to have chiefly consulted her 
ambition in thus acceding to Wesley's proposal, 
while her heart was really given to John Bennett, 
one of Wesley's most able and best educated preach- 
ers. This was, however, unknown to Wesley until 
she wrote him asking his consent to her marriage 
to Bennett. Wesley was "utterly amazed," but 
wrote a mild answer, "supposing they were already 
married;" but she hesitated, came back to Wesley, 
again returned to Bennett, and so coquetted be- 
tween the two, though without the knowledge of 
either, for six months, until Charles, who strongly 
opposed the marriage on the ground that she was 
unsuitable for his brother, on ' his return from a 
visit to the latter, met her, took her behind him to 
Newcastle, where Bennett was, and in a week mar- 
ried them. The whole matter was one of the se- 
verest trials of Wesley's life. 

In February, 1750, an earthquake occurred that 
filled London with alarm. Exactly a month after- 
ward a second shock, longer and more violent, was 
felt; and ten days later another. People became 
frantic with fear. Meantime a crazy soldier proph- 
esied that on the 4th of April there would be anoth- 
er earthquake that would destroy half of London. 
When the night arrived, people left their houses 
and crowded into the parks and other open places. 
9 



130 ■ Life of John Wesley. 

The churches were packed, especially the chapels 
of the Methodists. In Hyde Park, at midnight, 
amid dense darkness, and surrounded by terror- 
stricken multitudes, Whitefield preached on the 
coming judgment of the last day, the wreck of 
nature, and the sealing of man's eternal destinies. 
Wesley remained in London for three weeks after 
the first shock, and held "a solemn fast day" and 
two watch-night meetings, besides other services. 
He then set out for Bristol, and was succeeded by 
his brother Charles, who preached at least four 
times respecting the fearful events then agitating 
the public mind. He also issued a pamphlet en- 
titled "Hymns Occasioned by the Earthquake/' 
containing nineteen hymns, and breathing a happy, 
hopeful spirit. In the midst of the commotion the 
cruelly treated and broken-hearted Mehetabel Wes- 
ley died, and was buried by Charles, w T ho preached 
from the text, " Thy sun shall no more go down, 
neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the 
Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days 
of thy mourning shall be ended." 

On the 19th of March Wesley set out for Ireland. 
On the way he overtook John Lane, a preacher in 
the third year of his itinerancy, who had set out 
from Bristol with three shillings in his pocket. Six 
nights out of seven he had been entertained by 
strangers, and on his arrival had just a penny left. 
Five months afterward this brave itinerant died, 



Incidents in Ireland. 131 

his last words being, " I have found the love of God 
in Christ Jesus." "All his clothes/' writes a friend 
who was with him at the time, " linen and woolen, 
his stockings, hat, and wig, are not thought suffi- 
cient to pay his funeral expenses, which amount to 
£1 17s. 3d. All the money he had was one shilling 
and four pence." "Enough," adds Wesley, "for 
any unmarried preacher of the gospel to leave to 
his executors." 

In Ireland several incidents occurred worthy of 
record. One day he rode, with but an hour or 
two's intermission, from five in the morning till 
nearly eleven at night — about ninety miles — when 
he came to Aymo, where he wished to sleep ; but 
the woman who kept the inn refused him admit- 
tance, and let loose four dogs to worry him. At 
Portarlington he had the task of reconciling two 
termagant women, who talked for three hours, and 
grew warmer and warmer till they were almost dis- 
tracted. Wesley says : " I perceived there was no 
remedy but prayer, so a few of us wrestled with 
God for above two hours." Then at last anger gave 
place to love, and the quarrelsome ladies fell upon 
each other's neck. 

At Tullamore he rebuked the society for their 
lukewarmness and covetousness, and had the pleas- 
ure of seeing them evince signs of penitence. At 
Anghrim he preached "to a well-meaning, sleepy 
people," and " strove to shake some of them out of 



132 Life of John Wesley. 

sleep by preaching as sharply as he could." At 
Limerick he told "the society freely and plainly of 
their faults." His preachers, too, gave him trouble. 
He writes to Edward and Charles Perronet: "I 
have abundance of complaint to make as well as 
to hear. I have scarce any one on w T hom I can de- 
pend when I am a hundred miles off. Tis well if 
I do not run away soon, and leave them to cut and 
shuffle for themselves. Here [in Ireland] is a glo- 
rious people; but O where are the shepherds? The 
society at Cork have fairly sent me word that they 
will take care of themselves, and erect themselves 
into a dissenting congregation. I am weary of 
these sons of Zeruiah ; they are too hard for me." 



CHAPTER VI. 

Controversies — Wesley's Marriage — "Sifting" the Preach- 
ers — Calvinism — Scotland — Very 111 — An Invalid's Rest. 

THE period immediately succeeding 1750 was 
one fraught with great anxiety to Wesley. 
Grave errors appeared among the London Mora- 
vians — both of doctrine and practice — and began 
to infest the Methodists also ; and he found it nec- 
essary to attack them. Much ill feeling was en- 
gendered, and the controversy continued through 
years following. Another extremely bitter contro- 
versy was between the Wesleys and Whitefield on 
one side, and the Bishop of Lavington on the other. 
The latter had attacked the Methodists first in 1749 
in a scurrilous publication, entitled " Enthusiasm of 
the Papists and Methodists Compared." Wesley 
replied severely. The bishop rejoined in a second 
part of the same pamphlet. Wesley answered still 
more severely; and so it continued till Lavington 
was forced to be silent. 

A greater source of trouble was his marriage 
to Mrs. Vazeille, February, 1751. Having come 
to the conclusion that "in my present circumstances 
I might be more useful in a married state," he speed- 
ily consummated his design. Unfortunately, he 
could scarcely have hit upon a more unsuitable 

(133) 



134 Life of John Wesley. 

woman. Of a bitter and angry spirit — indeed, al- 
most if not quite insane — she became the torment 
of his life. A number of times she left him, and 
again returned. She defamed him in private, and 
seized his letters and put them in the hands of those 
she knew were his enemies, interpolating so as to 
make them bear a bad construction. In one or two 
instances she published them. At times she was 
outrageously violent tow T ard him, and there was al- 
ways little else in their intercourse than constant 
connubial storms. 

Wesley was almost worn away. February, 1756, 
he writes: "Your last letter was seasonable indeed. 
The being continually watched over for evil ; the 
having every word I spoke, every action I did — 
small and great — watched with no friendly eye ; the 
hearing a thousand little tart, unkind reflections in 
return for the kindest words I could devise, 

' Like drops of eating water on the marble, 
At length have worn my sinking spirits down/ 

Yet I could not say ' Take thy plague away from 
me,' but only ' Let me be purified, not consumed/ " 
Wesley patiently endeavored to win her to a better 
mind, but all was in vain. His domestic wretched- 
ness was protracted through thirty years, until she 
died October 8, 1781. 

It is no mean proof of the greatness of Wesley's 
character that during all the years of this ministry 
his public career never wavered nor appeared to 



The Calvinian Controversy. 135 

lose one jot of its amazing energy. It was well 
that it was so, for difficulties thickened on every 
side. One source of trouble and uneasiness was the 
conduct of many of his preachers. One James 
Wheat-ley had to be expelled for gross immorality. 
Some were accused of railing, others of idleness, 
and he greatly feared there was a wide-spread de- 
cline of zeal and labors among them. He deter- 
mined upon a sifting, and for this purpose sent 
Charles to Leeds to hold a Conference, directing 
him to prefer grace before gifts, and to deal not only 
with disorderly walkers, but also with triflers, the 
effeminate, and busybodies. Six preachers resigned 
their work that year, six the next year, and twelve 
more in the four years thereafter out of sixty-eight 
in all employed. Wesley wrote: "It is far better 
for us to have ten or six preachers who are alive to 
God, sound in the faith, and of one heart with us 
and with one another, than fifty of whom we have 
no assurance." 

The Calvinian controversy which now r began to 
rise added one more source of trouble. In 1751 
three of the preachers at the first Irish Conference 
avowed Calvinistic opinions. Others, it was ru- 
mored — and among them Charles Wesley — were 
infected also with the same views. Under such cir- 
cumstances Wesley, in 1752, issued his "Predesti- 
nation Calmly Considered," a pamphlet of eighty- 
three pages, written in a most loving spirit, but 



136 Life of John Wesley. 



showing conclusively that the Calvinistic doctrine 
of election necessarily involved the corresponding 
and abhorrent doctrine of reprobation — plainly op- 
posed to the Scriptures and dishonoring to God. 
His pamphlet utterly demolished the Calvinian the- 
ory, and to it no Methodist ventured a reply ; but 
a Dr. Gill, a learned Baptist, attempted it twice, 
but he was no match for Wesley at the best, and 
his answer was not even worthy of himself. A 
most bitter and painful controversy, however, en- 
sued, lasting for many years, and dividing the 
friends of Christ. 

Through all Wesley continued to travel and 
preach through three kingdoms. In 1751 for the 
first time he visited Scotland, and succeeded in 
planting Methodism there, though it has never 
flourished there as in England. Returning, he 
pursued his itinerant labors through England and 
Ireland during the rest of that year and all of the 
following year. In 1751 he held the first Irish 
Conference at Limerick. A general decay of the 
societies in Ireland was reported, occasioned partly 
by the teaching of Antinomian and Calvinian doc- 
trines, partly by the want of discipline, and partly 
by the misbehavior of the preachers. Various 
measures were adopted to remedy these evils. He 
staid twelve weeks in Ireland and then went to 
Bristol, and thence to London, where he spent the 
remainder of the year. 



Seriously Indisposed. 137 

It were wearying even to read all the journeyings 
of this evangelist of Christ. But at last strength 
began to fail under his many heavy burdens. For 
months during 1753 his health was feeble, until on 
November 12, preaching at Leigh, in Essex, he 
caught cold. Two days after, on returning to Lon- 
don, he "had a settled pain in his left breast, a 
violent cough, and a slow fever." His physician 
ordered him at once to remove into the country and 
to rest, which he did, going to his friend Mr. Black- 
well, at Lewisham. The news of his illness spread 
rapidly, and caused general alarm. Charles Wes- 
ley hurried to him, and though he was then con- 
siderably better, thought him "still in imminent 
danger, being far gone and very suddenly in a 
consumption." He then went to the Foundry and 
preached on the pow 7 er of prayer, and declared it 
to be his opinion that if his brother's life was pro- 
longed it would only be by the prayer of faith. 
Whitefield was touched with the deepest sorrow, 
and, forgetting the differences between them, wrote : 

"Rev. and Very Dear Sir — If seeing you so weak 
when leaving London distressed me, the news and 
prospect of your approaching dissolution have quite 
weighed me down. I pity myself and the Church, 
but not you. A radiant throne awaits you, and ere- 
long you will enter into your Master's joy. If in 
the land of the dying, I hope to pay my last respects 
to you next; if not, reverend and very dear sir, 



138 Life of John Wesley. 

F-a-r-e-w-e-1-1 ! Prce seqnar, esti non passions cequis. 
My heart is too big, tears trickle down too fast, and 
you, I fear, are too weak for me to enlarge. Under- 
neath you may there be Christ's everlasting arms!" 
He continued to improve, however, and in five 
weeks was able to remove from Lewisham. Still he 
was an invalid for the first six months of 1754. 
But he did not remain idle. He began the new 
year at the Hot wells, Bristol. On the first Sunday 
of the year he commenced writing his "Notes on 
the New Testament," "a work," says he, "which I 
would scarce ever have attempted had I not been 
so ill as not to be able to travel or preach, and yet 
so well as to be able to read and write." With the 
exception of the time prescribed for exercise on 
horseback, two hours for meals, and one for private 
prayer, he spent sixteen hours a day on this work. 
In ten weeks his rough draft of the translation and 
the notes on the Gospels were completed. He then 
returned to London, and retiring to the village of 
Paddington, he spent nearly the whole of the next 
three months in writing, except that he came to 
town every Saturday evening to take part in the 
services next day. He preached first again at Bris- 
tol March 26, and after that a few times till Whit- 
sunday, when he once more took the evening serv- 
ice at the Foundry; but he writes: "I have not 
recovered my whole voice or strength ; perhaps I 
never may ; but let me use what I have." 



Preaching Again. 139 

He now began to travel some, and in the last of 
May held his Annual Conference. In the summer, 
however, he again became very unwell, and was 
again ordered to repair to the Hotwells, Bristol, 
without delay. He did so ; but in three weeks 
started again, September 5, on a preaching tour to 
Taunton, Tiverton, and other places. September 
10 he got back to Bristol, "at least as well as when 
he left it," having preached eight times in as many 
days, besides traveling, visiting, and meeting his 
societies. He then remained at Bristol three weeks 
longer preaching and visiting, till op attempting to 
hold a watch-night service September 27, at eleven 
o'clock, he almost lost his voice, and the next even- 
ing it entirely failed. He then set out for London, 
and arrived there October 4, where he seems to 
have remained the rest of the year in great feeble- 
ness. Nevertheless, besides the work already no- 
ticed, he published during this year "An Extract 
of his Journal from November 25, 1746, to July 
20, 1749," one hundred and thirty-nine pages ; "An 
Answer to Rev. Dr. Gill," and eight volumes more 
of his " Christian Library," which he had compiled 
from the writings of Leighton, Barrow, Charnock, 
Baxter, and others. 

At the commencement of 1755 he was occupied, 
at the author's request, with the revision of Her- 
vey's greatest work, "Theron and Aspasia." On 
the first of April he set out on a three months' 



140 Life of John Wesley. 

journey to the North of England, seemingly with 
all his wonted vigor, preaching, visiting, and over- 
seeing. Returning, he went to Norwich and thence 
to Cornwall, and so passed the rest of the year la- 
boring as usual. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Separation — Sanctified Fanaticism — The Poor Actor — The 
Use of Money — Berridge — Shirley — " Softness " — Per- 
sonal Appearance. 

A MOVEMENT now arose to separate from 
the Church of England and establish Meth- 
odism as a distinct Church. For years there had 
been much dissatisfaction among the societies. The 
Methodist preachers were generally not ordained, 
and therefore unable to administer the sacraments 
to their people, while in many cases they were 
rudely repelled from the communion in the churches 
of the Establishment, and refused the sacraments. 
Again, the Established Church was very corrupt, 
the ministers ignorant in spiritual things, irreligious 
in life, and often immoral. Many of the most pious 
and influential of Wesley's preachers longed -for 
borne other arrangement to meet the pressing de- 
mands of the people. On the other hand, Charles 
Wesley, who was an ardent Churchman, with some 
few others, strongly opposed all innovation. A 
long and severe contest ensued. From 1755 to 
1761 each year the matter was discussed at length 
in the Conferences, while numerous letters and 
pamphlets were published on the subject, pro and 
con. At the Conference of 1755 the preachers, 

(141) 



142 Life of John Wesley. 



" in seven or eight long conversations," gave their 
reasons for its expediency. Wesley said: "I will 
freely acknowledge that I cannot answer these ar- 
guments to my own satisfaction, so that my con- 
clusion, which I cannot yet give up, ' that it is law- 
ful to continue in the Church,' stands almost with- 
out any premises that are able to bear its weight." 
The objection was justly urged that lay preaching, 
being clearly inconsistent with the discipline of the 
Church of England, was already a partial separa- 
tion. In reference to this Wesley says : " We have 
not taken one step farther than we were convinced 
was our bounden duty. It is from a full convic- 
tion of this that we have (1) preached abroad; (2) 
prayed extempore; (3) formed societies; and (4) 
permitted preachers w T ho were not episcopally or- 
dained. And were we pushed on this side, were 
there no alternative allowed, we should judge it 
our bounden duty rather wholly to separate from 
the Churchy than to give up any one of these points. 
Therefore if we cannot stop a separation without 
stopping lay preachers, the case is clear : w T e cannot 
stop it at all." Still he would not consent. He 
did not question the right to do so under the Script- 
ures. He declared his total dissent from the doc- 
trine of apostolical succession, and said in reference 
to even an episcopal form of Church-government: 
" That it is prescribed in Scripture I do not believe. 
This opinion, which I once zealously espoused, I 



Against Separation. 143 

have been heartily ashamed of ever since I read 
Bishop Stillingfleet's 'Irenicon.' I think he has 
unanswerably proved that neither Christ nor his 
apostles prescribe any particular form of Church- 
government, and that the plea of divine right for 
diocesan episcopacy was never heard of in the 
primitive Church." He also maintains the supe- 
riority of the Methodist order of services over that 
of the Church of England. He says : " The longer 
I am absent from London, and the more I attend 
the service of the Church in other places, the more 
I am convinced of the unspeakable advantage which 
the Methodists enjoy. I mean even with regard to 
public worship, particularly on tjie Lord's-day." 
He then goes on to compare at length the services 
of the Methodists with those of the Church of 
England, to show the great superiority of the for- 
mer, and therefore why they could never be given 
up. But he argues against formal separation on 
the ground of expediency, alleging principally that 
it would prejudice the cause of the Methodists with 
many who otherwise would be their friends, cause 
many to leave the societies, and engage him in a 
thousand controversies, so as to almost entirely di- 
vert him from useful labors. On these grounds he 
decided to remain. 

Commotion now arose in another quarter. In 
1762 great extravagances began in the London 
Society. Maxfield and Bell, two of the preachers, 



144 Life of John Wesley. 

with many of the members, began to utter the wild- 
est opinions, •and to make the most fanatical claims. 
Wesley, with Charles, went to see them about it, 
and afterward wrote them what he disliked in 
them — L e., "their supposing man may be as per- 
fect as an angel ; that he can be absolutely perfect ; 
that he can be infallible, or above being tempted; 
or that the moment he is pure in heart he cannot 
fall from its" Also " their depreciation of justifi- 
cation," and their doctrines that a sanctified person 
needs no self-examination, no private prayer; and 
that he cannot be taught by any one who is not in 
the same state as himself. 

But it was too late. Bell and Maxfield both 
went off and took some two hundred of the society 
with them. On the other hand, Charles Wesley 
was led by these excesses to considerably modify his 
views of the doctrine of sanctification, and consider 
it not the product of simple faith only, but also " of 
severe discipline, comprehending affliction, tempta- 
tion, long-continued labor," etc. Many of his former 
co-workers — among them Madan, Berridge, Ro- 
maine, and even Whitefield — openly contended 
against Wesley. Wesley was most uneasy, but 
Fletcher came to his aid, and he was enabled to stand 
fast against his opposers on the right-hand and on 
the left, rescue the societies at last, and under God 
to establish the genuine doctrine of Christian per- 
fection as the accepted teaching of Methodism. 



The Indigent Actor, 145 

All this time the Calvinian controversy contin- 
ued with more or less vigor. Socinianism, too, up- 
reared itself before him, and Wesley was obliged 
to write an octavo volume of five hundred and 
twenty-two pages in answer to Dr. Taylor, the most 
eminent Socinian minister of his age. Wesley's 
book was a most triumphant refutation of the 
heresy, it being the ablest work on the subject 
in the English language. He still had to defend 
himself from attacks through the press. He was 
unremitting in his benevolent labors for the poor 
and suffering in every place. An incident that 
happened in Ireland illustrates the genuineness of 
his philanthropy. In a public house were a num- 
ber of loungers, and among the rest a starving act- 
or in a motley dress that had seen better days, re- 
clined on a w T ooden bench in the corner. The 
landlady, a true termagant, furiously bawled out 
to the poor player: "Turn out, you pitiable raga- 
muffin! — plenty of promises, but no money; either 
pay your way, or you and your doll of a wife turn 
out." Just then Wesley entered, and instantly the 
landlady became as mild as a May day. "Dear 
sir," says she, " I am glad you 're come ; this man, 
sir, is a very bad man, sir ; as you said in your ser- 
mon yesterday, 'He that oppresseth the poor is a 
bad man/ sir." "What has he done?" asks Wes- 
ley. " Why, sir, I have kept him and his w T ife for 
a fortnight, and have never seen the color of his 
10 



146 Life of John Wesley. 

money. Three crowns is my due, and I '11 have it 
if law can get it." "Who is this gentleman?" 
"Who is he? Why, he is one of those you preach 
against — one of your player men. I wish you could 
preach them out of town. Why, sir, they are all 
starving. I do n't think this man has, got a good 
meal for a fortnight, except what I have given him, 
and now you see his gratitude." Wesley approached 
the poor, dejected actor and said: "You serve the 
stage, young man ; would I could teach you to serve 
your God, you would find him a better master. 
Pardon me, I mean not to upbraid you, or to hurt 
your feelings. My Master sent you this," putting 
into his hand a guinea; "retire and thank him." 
"Who is your master?" cried the actor; "where 
and how shall I thank him ? " " God is my Master ; 
return him thanks." "How?" "On your knees 
when in private ; in public at all times ; in your 
principles and practice. Farewell; go, comfort 
your wife and children." The poor fellow was 
dumbfounded, and sobbing the thanks he could not 
speak, he left the room. "Three crowns is your de- 
mand on our afflicted brother?" said Wesley to the 
landlady. "Yes, sir; fifteen shillings." "I will 
pay you," said Wesley; "but what can you think 
of yourself? How terrible will be your condition 
on your death-bed, calling for that mercy which 
you refuse to a fellow-creature! I shudder whilst 
under your roof, and leave it as I would the pesti- 



God's Steward for the Poor. 147 

lence. May the Lord pardon your sins." With 
this he put fifteen shillings on the table, and made 
his exit. "Pardon my sins!" quoth the irate vira- 
go, "pardon my sins, indeed! And why not his 
own? I'll warrant he has as much to answer for 
as I have ; getting a parcel of people together that 
ought to be minding their work. Why, it was only 
yesterday that he was preaching everybody to the 
devil that encouraged the players." 

Money never staid with John Wesley long. In 
1766, when he was sixty-three years old, by the 
will of a Miss Lewin he received £1,0001 He said, 
" I am God's steward for the poor," and he gave it 
all away in less than two years. His sentiments 
on the subject of giving are embodied in a pastoral 
address issued about 1764. He says: "If you are 
not in pressing want give something, and you will 
be no poorer for it. Grudge not, fear not; lend 
unto the Lord, and he will surely repay. If you 
earn but three shillings a week and give a penny 
out of it, you will never want. But I do not say 
this to you who have ten or fifteen shillings a week 
and give only a penny. To see this has often 
grieved my spirit. I have been ashamed for you, 
if you have not been ashamed for yourself. O be 
ashamed before God and man ! Be not straitened 
in your own bowels. Give in proportion to your 
substance. You can better afford a shilling than 
he a penny. Open your eyes, your heart, your 



148 Life of John Wesley, 

hand." His three well-known rules for a Chris- 
tian in his conduct in relation to money are elab- 
orated at length in his sermon on the "Use of 
Money," published about this time, viz.: (1) " Gain 
all you can; (2) save all you can; (3) give all you 
can." 

Difficulties and oppositions still beset him. At 
Grampound, " a mean, inconsiderable village," the 
mayor sent two constables to prohibit him from 
preaching. Wesley answered : " The mayor has no 
authority to hinder, but it is a point not worth con- 
testing; so," he adds, "I went about a musket-shot 
farther and left the borough to Mr. Mayor's dis- 
posal." At Stallbridge he had to apply to the 
courts for protection. At Plymouth a large stone 
was thrown in at the window at the close of the 
sermon, and fell at his feet. At Swadlingbar, in 
Wales, as soon as he began preaching, a papist 
commenced "blowing a horn," but "a gentleman 
stepped up, snatched his horn away, and, without 
ceremony, knocked him down." At York he met 
with a ludicrous adventure : the rector there, the 
Rev. Mr. Cordeaux, on previous occasions had 
warned his congregation against hearing "that vag- 
abond Wesley preach." Wesley, after preaching 
in his own chapel, now went in his canonicals to 
Mr. Cordeaux's church. The latter saw that he 
was a clergyman, and without knowing who he was 
offered him his church to preach. Wesley accepted, 



SHU Furiously Opposed, 149 

and preached. After service Cordeaux asked his 
clerk if he knew who the stranger was. " Sir, he is 
the vagabond Wesley," replied the clerk, " against 
whom you warned us." "Ay, indeed," said the 
astonished rector, " we are trapped ; but never mind, 
we have had a good sermon." 

Sometimes his congregations were unappreciative 
and stupid. At Liverpool the congregations were 
exceeding large, but many of the people "seemed 
to be like wild asses' colts." At Berwick he 
preached to " a drowsy congregation." At Kings- 
wood he says: "Scarce thirty of them think it 
worth while to hear the word of God on a week- 
day — not even when I preach." At North Scarle 
he had a great multitude to hear him, but though 
he "spoke as plainly as he could on the first prin- 
ciples of religion, many seemed to understand him 
no more than if he was talking Greek." 

On the other hand, there was much to encourage 
him. The work still increased. He had a noble 
corps of preachers, and others joined him. There 
was Berridge, vicar of Everton, in learning inferior 
to very few of the most celebrated men of Cam- 
bridge, where he had taken his degree, who for 
twenty years traveled his circuit, embracing five 
counties, and preached on an average from ten to 
twelve sermons every week. Magistrates and 
squires and others furiously opposed him. The 
"old devil" was the name bv which he was distin- 



150 Life of John Wesley. 

guished among them. Bat he steadily pursued his 
work, renting houses and barns for preaching, and 
lay preachers employed and maintained, his Church 
income and the fortune inherited from his father 
being appropriated to the work, until even his fam- 
ily plate was converted into clothing for his itiner- 
ant preachers. Thousands were converted and 
brought into the Church under his ministry. 

Capt. Webb has already been mentioned. The 
Eev. Walter Shirley, first cousin to the Countess 
of Huntingdon, who held a Church-living in Ire- 
land, was another powerful ally. Cope, Bishop of 
Clonfert, threatened him. "Menaces, my lord," 
said Shirley, " between gentlemen are illiberal ; but 
when they cannot be put into execution, they are 
contemptible." The Archbishop of Tuam, on the 
other hand, treated the charges brought against 
him with contempt. Once the curate of Loughrea 
came to him with a very important air : " O your 
grace!" exclaimed he, "I have such a circumstance 
to relate to you ; one that will astonish you." " In- 
deed," replied he, "what can it be?" "Why, my 
lord," said the curate solemnly, " Mr. Shirley wears 
white stockings." "Very anti-clerical and very 
dreadful," responded the archbishop. "Does Mr. 
Shirley wear them over his boots?" "No, your 
grace." " Well, sir," said the prelate, " the first time 
you find him with his stockings over his boots, pray 
inform me, and I shall deal with him accordingly." 



An Enemy to "Softness" 151 

Thomas Walsh, too, must not be forgotten. " The 
best Hebrean," says Wesley, " I ever knew. I nev- 
er asked him the meaning of a Hebrew word but 
he would tell me how often it occurred in the Bi- 
ble, and what it meant in each place." 

But the greatest of all was John Fletcher, a 
name ever memorable not only in Methodist an- 
nals, but in the history of the general Church of 
Christ. He joined the Methodists in 1755, and 
truly continued a bright and shining light till his 
death in 1785. His labors cannot here be related. 
Suffice it that he appeared at a time when Wesley 
greatly needed such a man, and that through years 
following he continued to refresh the oft-tried heart 
and help the weary hand of his veteran chieftain. 

Wesley could not endure " softness." When fifty- 
five years old he traveled in one day ninety miles 
on horseback and by post-chaise over miserable 
roads to meet his appointment to preach the follow- 
ing morning. Seven years later he made a tour 
through England, Scotland, and Ireland that lasted 
thirty-two weeks, everywhere preaching and visit- 
ing. On one occasion a servant, on entering his 
room, found his coachman rolling himself up and 
down the feather-bed most vigorously, because, as 
he said, Wesley would not sleep in it until it was 
made as hard as possible. 

He maintained a constant warfare against world- 
liness. He exhorts against any thing being aimed 



152 Life of John Wesley. 

at in dress except neatness and plainness, and says : 
"It is true these are little, very little things, there- 
fore give them up, let them drop ; throw them away 
without another word." He says of theaters that 
they "sap the foundation of all religion, as they 
naturally tend to efface all traces of piety and se- 
riousness out of the minds of men;" and he ad- 
dressed a letter to the mayor and corporation of 
Bristol against permission being granted to build a 
new theater there. Yet he was no fanatic. The 
day after Conference closed at Bristol he attended 
a performance of Handel's "Messiah" in the cathe- 
dral, and afterward when in London spent part of 
an afternoon in the British Museum, then lately 
opened. 

A spectator describes him at this period as travel- 
ling in an old, lumbering carriage with a book-case 
inside of it, and dressed in a cassock, with black silk 
stockings and large silver buckles. Horace Wal- 
pole heard him preach in 1766, and writes: "Wes- 
ley is a clean, elderly man, fresh-colored, his hair 
smoothly combed, but w T ith a little soupgon of curls 
at the ends. Wondrous clever, but as evidently an 
actor as Garrick. He spoke his sermon, but so 
fast, and with so little accent, that I am sure he 
has often uttered it, for it was like a lesson. There 
were parts and eloquence in it, but toward the end 
he acted very ugly enthusiasm, decried learning, 
and told stories." 



Crippled by a Fall. 158 

Toward the end of 1765 he met with a severe ao 
cident by the fall of his horse, by which he was 
much bruised and made to suffer seriously for many 
months. As late as May, 1766, he writes: "I 
know not to what it is owing that I have felt more 
w T eariness this spring than I had done for many 
years, unless to my fall at Christmas, which per- 
haps weakened the springs of my whole machine 
more than I w T as sensible of." He also complains 
of feeling much pain, but adds: "But, blessed be 
God, I have strength sufficient for the work to 
which I am called. When I cannot walk any far- 
ther I can take a horse, and now and then a chaise, 
so that hitherto I have not been hindered from vis- 
iting any place which I proposed to see before I 
left London." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Chapel Debts — Finances — Kules of Discipline — Profitable 
Conversation — Kules for a Revival — First College Ap- 
pointments — Whitefield's Death — Happy Experiences — 
Wesley Sick — The Work of a Methodist Preacher — A 
None-such — The Sin of Screaming. 

IN 1767 the first Methodist missionary collection 
was taken up by Wesley at Newcastle for the 
American Indians. In the same year a connec- 
tional effort was made to pay off the debts upon 
the chapels throughout the kingdom. These debts 
amounted to eleven thousand three hundred and 
eighty-three pounds, and at that day was a burden 
heavy to be borne. A circular was issued and sub- 
scriptions taken up in all the societies to raise 
twelve thousand pounds. In two years eight thou- 
sand seven hundred pounds was raised, and much 
relief afforded; but chapel debts still existed, and 
were for years afterward one of Wesley's sor- 
rows. 

Some further details as to the state of Method- 
ism at this period — twenty-eight years after its ori- 
gin — are interesting. Forty-one circuits had been 
formed, one hundred and four itinerants employed, 
and twenty-five thousand nine hundred and eleven 
(154) 



Finances — Discipline. 155 

members of society gathered. Six of the circuits 
were in Yorkshire, and one-fourth of the members. 
One fact worthy of notice at the Conference of this 
year — 1767 — was the presence of " many stewards 
and local preachers/' besides the itinerants, show- 
ing that Wesley had wisely availed himself of the 
counsels of the laity. Salaries were small. In 
1768 three married Methodist ministers and an un- 
married one cost the Barnard Castle Circuit about 
£109 8s. a year, or about ten shillings and sixpence 
per minister per week. From the minutes of the 
Conference of 1765 we learn that £100 9s. 7d. was 
raised that year for Kingswood school. The yearly 
subscription in the classes was £707 18s. ; of which 
£578 was devoted to the payment of chapel debts, 
£38 17s. in defraying chapel expenses, and the re- 
maining £91 Is. divided among the preachers who 
were in want. 

At the same Conference rules were adopted for 
the management of the fund for the support of su- 
perannuated preachers, their widows and children. 
Various other regulations were adopted to promote 
the work. In all future buildings there were to be 
sash-windows opening downward, but no " tub-pul- 
pits." Men and women were to sit apart everywhere. 
Outdoor preaching had often been omitted to please 
societies and stewards, but this was not to be done 
again. Some of the preachers were not " merciful 
to their beasts," and it was directed that hard rid- 



156 Life of John Wesley. 

ing should be avoided, and that every one should 
"see with his own eyes his horse rubbed, fed, and 
bedded." Societies and congregations were to be 
taught singing. The people were to be urged to be 
good economists. Members might "tenderly and 
prudently call each other brother and sister; but as 
a rule they talked too much and read too little, and 
ought to amend in this/' Many of them were 
" absolutely enslaved to snuff; " some drank drams. 
The preachers were enjoined on no account to in- 
dulge in such practices themselves, but were to 
speak to any snuffing during sermon. 

Wesley discussed another topic at this Confer- 
ence, as follows: "God thrust me and my brother 
out utterly against our w T ill to raise a holy people. 
Holiness was our point — inward and outward holi- 
ness. When Satan could no otherwise prevent 
this, he threw Calvinism in our w T ay, and then An- 
tinomianism. Then many Methodists grew rich, 
and thereby lovers of the present world. Next 
they married unawakened or half-awakened wives, 
and conversed with, their relations. Thence world- 
ly prudence, maxims, customs, crept back upon us, 
producing more and more conformity to the world. 
Then there followed gross neglect of relative duties, 
especially education of children." Wesley adds: 
"This is not cured by the preachers. Either they 
have not light or not w r eight enough. But the 
want of these may be in some measure supplied by 



Profitable Conversation. 157 

publicly reading the sermons [his own sermons] 
everywhere, especially the fourth volume, which 
supplies them with remedies suited to the dis- 
ease. " 

In a letter to Fletcher about the same time, he 
writes: "Mr. Eastbrook told me yesterday that 
you are sick of the conversation even of them who 
profess religion ; that you find it quite unprofitable 
if not hurtful to converse with them three or four 
hours together, and are sometimes almost deter- 
mined to shut yourself up as the less evil of the 
two. I do not wonder at it at all, especially con- 
sidering with whom you have chiefly conversed for 
some time past. ... I will go a step farther; I 
seldom find it profitable for me to converse with 
any who are not athirst for perfection, and who are 
not big with earnest expectation of receiving it 
every moment. Now you find none of these among 
those we are speaking of. . . . Again, you have for 
some time conversed a good deal with genteel Meth- 
odists. Now it matters not a straw what doctrine 
they hear, whether they frequent the Lock or West 
street. They are almost all salt which has lost its 
savor, if ever they had any. They are thoroughly 
conformed to the maxims, the fashions, and customs 
of the world. But were these or those of ever so 
excellent a spirit, you conversed with them too 
long. One had need to be an angel — not a man 
— to converse three or four hours at once to any 



158 Life of John Wesley. 

purpose. In the latter part of such conversation 
we shall doubtless lose all the profit we had gained 
before." 

The total increase of members reported at the 
Conference of 1768 was four hundred and thirty. 
Wesley w T as not satisfied w r ith this, and minute di- 
rections how to promote a revival appeared in the 
minutes the year following. 

August 24, 1768, the first Methodist college was 
instituted at Trevecca, Wales, by the Countess of 
Huntingdon. At Oxford persecution of the Meth- 
odists had become very bitter, and a number of 
students supposed to be maintained there by the 
Countess had been expelled for holding Methodist 
tenets. In five months afterward she opened the 
new college at one of her country-seats, and thus 
Methodism from the first secured the immense ad- 
vantage of sanctified learning for its cause and for 
the cause of Christ. 

A plan of settlement for the perpetuation of 
Methodism in its integrity after his death was now 
anxiously considered by Wesley. At length, in 
1769, he proposed that articles of agreement should 
be signed, pledging them all " (1) to devote them- 
selves entirely to God ; (2) to preach the old Meth- 
odist doctrines, and no other; (3) to observe and 
enforce the whole Methodist discipline as laid down in 
the minutes." The matter was then laid over for the 
present for consideration ; but at the Conference of 



Dissenting from Calvinism. 159 

1773 all the forty-seven preachers present signed it. 
Meantime Wesley had endeavored to get Fletcher 
to consent to become his successor, but in vain. 
Mr. Fletcher no doubt wisely declined to undertake 
what perhaps no person could possibly have accom- 
plished — the wearing of John Wesley's mantle and 
authority without having borne John Wesley's part 
in first organizing the work. 

Difficulty in stationing the preachers seemed to 
be growing. At the Conference of 1770 he writes 
to Mr. Merry weather at Yarm : 

"My Dear Brother — I have the credit of station- 
ing the preachers; but many of them go where 
they will go, for all me — for instance, I have marked 
down James Oddie and John Nelson for Yarm 
Circuit the ensuing year; yet I am not certain 
that either of them will come. They can give 
twenty reasons for going elsewhere. Mr. Murlin 
says he must be in London. 'T is certain he has a 
mind to be there. Therefore, so it must be; for 
you know a man of fortune is master of his own 
motions." 

The Calvinian controversy began to be very bit- 
ter. The Conference of 1770, alarmed at the spread 
of Antinomianism, and attributing it to neglect in 
themselves in counteracting the fatalistic theories 
of Geneva, said, "We have leaned too much to- 
ward Calvinism," and published a minute defining 
the points wherein they dissented from it. In order 



160 Life of John Wesley. 

to preserve peace, Wesley had hitherto gone too far 
in suppressing, if not in some respects surrendering, 
the Arminian doctrine. Hence the minute. Great 
offense was given at once to all the Calvinistic Meth- 
odists. The Countess of Huntingdon declared that 
whoever did not w 7 holly disavow these opinions 
should leave her college; and the matter did result 
in both Fletcher and Benson quitting Trevecca. A 
host of writers sprung into the arena, and thence- 
forward for full seven years the controversy raged. 
Two on the Calvinistic side, and both young men, 
were furiously violent against Wesley, and spared 
no pains to cast obloquy upon him. Others were 
more calm. On the Arminian side the principal 
writer was John Fletcher, though Wesley himself 
also wrote much and strongly. But Fletcher's 
Checks will ever remain a classic and incontrovert- 
ible discussion of the subject, at once written in the 
chastest literary taste and breathing the most lovely 
Christian spirit. To enter into the details of the 
controversy would manifestly be out of place here. 
Suffice it that Calvinism has never since even nom- 
inally held much place in Methodism, and practi- 
cally it has become almost obsolete everywhere in 
English-speaking countries. 

Soon after Conference, Whitefield died— while on 
one of his evangelistic journeys — at Newburyport, 
in New England, September 30, 1770. On the 
day before he had preached in the open air for 



Death of mitefield. 161 

nearly two hours. A friend said to him just before 
he commenced : " Sir, you are more fit to go to bed 
than to preach." " True," replied the dying man ; 
and then turning aside he clasped his hands, and 
looking up, said: "Lord Jesus, I am weary in thy 
work but not of thy work." Next morniug at six 
o'clock he was dead. He was buried where he died, 
with every mark of respect. Wesley, in accord- 
ance with a long-standing agreement between them, 
and on invitation of the congregation, preached 
the funeral- sermon in Whitefield's Tottenham Court 
Chapel, November 18, to an immense multitude from 
the text, " Let me die the death of the righteous, 
and let my last end be like his." "It was," says 
Wesley, "an awful season; all were as still as 
night." In the afternoon he preached again in 
Whitefield's Tabernacle, in Moorfields. The hour 
appointed was half-past five; but the place was 
filled at three, and Wesley began at four. White- 
field, he said, had " unparalleled zeal, indefatigable 
activity, tender-heartedness to the afflicted and char- 
itableness to the poor, the most generous friend- 
ship, nice and unblemished modesty, frankness and 
openness of conversation, unflinching courage and 
steadiness in whatever he undertook for his Mas- 
ter's sake." 

The loss of such a friend and brother was a griev- 
ous affliction. But his comfort was in God and in 
the glorious work. Many seasons of refresing con- 
II 



.102 Life of John Wesley. 

tinually occurred, and are gratefully recorded in 
his journal: 

"Easter-day, April 7.— After preaching I went 
to the new church, and found an uncommon bless- 
ing at a time when I least of all expected it — -namely, 
while the organist was playing a voluntary! We 
had a happy hour in the evening, many hearts be- 
ing melted down in one flame of holy love, 

" Thursday, 11. — The barber who shaved me 
said: 'Sir, I praise God on your behalf. When 
you were at Bolton last I was one of the most emi- 
nent drunkards in all the town ; but I came to listen 
at the window and God struck me to the heart. 1 
then earnestly prayed for power against drinking, 
and God gave me more than I asked ; he took away 
the very desire of it. Yet I felt myself worse and 
worse, till on the 5th of April last I could hold out 
no longer. I knew I must drop into hell that mo- 
ment unless God appeared to save me; and he did 
appear. I knew he loved me, and felt sweet peace ; 
yet I did not dare to say I had faith till yesterday 
was twelvemonth. God gave me faith, and his love 
has ever since filled my heart.' 

"Sunday, May 20. — While Mr. Berridge was 
preaching I heard many cry out, especially chil- 
dren, whose agonies were amazing. One of the 
eldest, a girl of ten or twelve years old, was full in 
my view, in violent contortions of body, and weep- 
ing aloud I think incessantly during the whole 



Revival Scenes. 1 G3 



service; and several much younger children were 
in Mr. B — ll's view, agonizing as they did. When 
the power of religion began to be spoken of, the 
presence of God really filled the place ; and while 
poor sinners felt the sentence of death in their souls, 
what sounds of distress did I hear! The greatest 
number of them who cried or fell were men; but 
some women and several children felt the power of 
the same Almighty Spirit, and seemed just sinking 
into hell. Among the children who felt the arrows 
of the Almighty I saw a sturdy boy, who roared 
above his fellows, and seemed in his agony to strug- 
gle with the strength of a grown man. I staid in 
the next room, and saw the girl whom I had ob- 
served so peculiarly distressed in the church lying 
on the floor as one dead, but without any ghastli- 
ness in her face. In a few minutes we were in- 
formed of a woman filled with peace and joy, who 
w r as crying out just before. Just as we heard of 
her deliverance the girl on the floor began to stir. 
She was then set in a chair ; and after sighing awhile 
suddenly rose up, rejoicing in God. Her face was 
covered with the most beautiful smile I ever saw. 
Meantime I saw a thin, pale girl weeping with sor- 
row for herself and joy for her companions. Quick- 
ly the smiles of heaven came likewise upon her, and 
her praises joined with those of the other. I also 
then laughed with extreme joy; so did Mr. B — 11, 
who said it was more than he could well bear. .... 



164 L ife of Jolt n \\ 'esley. 

Immediately after, a stranger, well dressed, who 
stood facing me, fell backward to the wall; then 
forward on his knees, wringing his hands and roar- 
ing like a bull. His face at first turned quite red, 
then almost black. He rose and ran against the 
wall, till Mr. Keeling and another held him. He 
screamed out : ' O what shall I do ! what shall I do ! 
O for one drop of the blood of Christ!' As he 
spoke God set his soul at liberty ; he knew his sins 
were blotted out ; and the rapture he was in seemed 
too great for human nature to bear. He had come 
forty miles to hear Mr. B., and was to leave him 
the next morning. " 

"I observed about the time that Mr. Coe (that 
was his name) began to rejoice, a girl eleven or 
twelve years old, exceeding j)oorly dressed, who 
appeared to be as deeply wounded and as desirous 
of salvation as any ; but I lost sight of her till I 
heard the joyful sound of another born in Zion, 
and found upon inquiry it was she, the poor, dis- 
consolate, gipsy-looking child. And now did I see 
such a sight as I do not expect again on this side 
eternity. The faces of the three justified children, 
and I think of all the believers present, did really 
shine; and such a beauty, such a look of extreme 
happiness, and at the same time of divine love and 
simplicity, did I never see in human faces till now. 
The newly justified eagerly embraced one another, 
weeping on each other's necks for joy. Then they 



Rejoicing in God his Saviour. 165 



saluted all of their own sex, and besought both 
men and women to help them in praising God." 

Such scenes were common among the people. 
His own heart rejoiced no less in God his Saviour: 
"Saturday, 9. — I rode slowly forward to Berwick. 
I was myself much out of order ; but I would not 
lose the opportunity of calling in the evening all 
that were weary and heavy-laden to Him who hath 
said, ' I will give you rest,' Sunday, 10. — I preached 
at eight and at four in the afternoon, and in the 
hours between spoke with members of the society. 
I met them all at seven, and a glorious meeting it 
was. I forgot all my pain while we were praising 
God together; but after they were gone I yielded 
to my friends, and determined to give myself a 
day's rest, so 1 spent Monday, the 11th, in waiting; 
only I could not refrain from meeting the society 
in the evening. Friday, 13. — At the meeting of 
the society such a flame broke out as was never 
there before. We felt such a love to each other as 
we could not express, such a spirit of supplication, 
and such a glad acquiescence in all the providences 
of God, and confidence that he would withhold from 
us no good thing. Sunday, 15. — The rain con- 
strained me to preach in the house, but I could not 
repine; for God was there, and spoke peace to 
many hearts. Tuesday, 24 After preach- 
ing again at one, I rode to Birmingham. This had 
been long a dry, uncomfortable place, so I expected 



166 Life of John Wesley. 

little good here; but I was happily disappointed. 
Such a congregation I never saw there before, and 
seldom have I known so deep, solemn a sense of 
the power and presence and love of God. The 
same blessing we had at the meeting of the society, 
and again at the morning preaching. Will God, 
then, at length cause even this barren wilderness to 
blossom and bud as the rose?" 

In 1772, when almost seventy, he felt some abate- 
ment of his accustomed energy. His friends saw 
it, and hence the following entry in his journal: 
" 1772, February 28. — I met several of my friends, 
who had begun a subscription to prevent my riding 
on horseback, which I cannot do quite so well since 
a hurt w T hich I got some months ago. If they con- 
tinue it, well ; if not, I shall have strength accord- 
ing to my need." 

A carriage was provided for him. In less than 
ten w 7 eeks thereafter he had traveled from London 
to Bristol, and thence to Birmingham, Nottingham, 
Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow 7 , Aberdeen, and 
Edinburgh, besides a great mumber of intervening 
towns and villages, preaching everywhere, and some- 
times as many as four times a day. He had to 
traverse the worst of roads, and often encountered 
winter storms, and not unfrequently preached in 
the open air. On reaching Edinburgh he under- 
went a medical examination by three of the most 
prominent practitioners of the city. His disease 



A 'Busy Invalid. 167 



was pronounced hydrocele. He writes : " They sat- 
isfied me what my disorder was, and told me there 
was but one method of cure. Perhaps but one nat- 
ural one, but I think God has more than one meth- 
od of healing either the body or the soul." A few 
months later he writes: "I am almost a disabled 
soldier. I am forbid to ride, and am obliged to 
travel mostly in a carriage." Great concern was 
shown at his illness, and prayer was made for him 
by his friends. Still he continued to labor with 
unabated efforts. He still preached in the open air. 
He writes : " To this day field-preaching is a cross 
to me ; but I know my commission, and know no 
other way of preaching the gospel to every creat- 
ure." He was seven months on a preaching tour, 
returning to London October 10, 1772. Spending 
one day only, he started off again. At another 
time, when seventy years old,, and still in compar- 
atively feeble health, he started in his chaise from 
Bristol at two o'clock in the morning, and traveled 
to London — a distance of one hundred and four- 
teen miles — the same day. An entry in his journal 
the following year is a curiosity: "Wednesday, 
March 30. — I went on to Congleton, where I re- 
ceived letters informing me that my presence was 
necessary at Bristol. So about one I took chaise, 
and reached Bristol about half an hour after one 
the next day. Having done my business in about 
two hours, on Friday in the afternoon I reached 



168 Life of John Wesley. 

Congleton again, about a hundred and forty miles 
from Bristol, no more tired (blessed be God !) than 
when I left it." Thus, over rough roads in an in- 
clement season, this old man rode in his private 
chaise two hundred and eighty miles in about forty- 
eight hours. Persecution, too, though much abated, 
had not entirely ceased. At Halifax a ruffian 
struck him most violently on the face, when with 
tears starting from his eyes the venerable saint 
meekly turned to him the other cheek also, and the 
brutal coward slunk away. 

Yet he uttered not a syllable of complaint. He 
took a warm interest in every important public 
event. The case of Wilkes was exciting much po- 
litical controversy at this time, and Wesley pub- 
lished a tract upon it. He also became one of the 
first advocates for the abolition of the slave-trade. 
In 1772 there was a scarcity of provisions in En- 
gland, and consequently much distress throughout 
the kingdom, and Wesley published a long letter, 
attributing it to the distillation of grain into spirits, 
the prevalence of luxury, avarice, high rents, and 
high taxes. Another time he gives advice as to the 
aim and spirit with which Christians should vote. 
At another he founds "The Christian Community " 
for the relief of the poor, a society which still ex- 
ists, and which has done incalculable good. The 
work grows in America, and he seriously thinks of 
going there, Meantime he keeps up the work at 



Unimpaired at Three-score and Ten. 169 

home. At Poplar he was importuned to give up 
the preaching there; but he constantly answered, 
"Does the old woman [Mrs. Clippendale] who sits 
in the corner of the long pew still attend?" "O 
yes," was the reply, "she never misses." "Then, 
for her sake, keep going," said Wesley. They did 
keep going, and Poplar came at last to have a good 
society. Again, when at Londonderry, a band of 
singers which he had organized two years before 
had become dispersed, through the neglect of the 
preacher. He says: "Nothing will stand in the 
Methodist plan unless the preacher has his heart 
and his hand in it. Every preacher, therefore, 
should consider it is not his business to mind this 
or that thing only, but every thing." To Benson, 
whom he had sent across the Tweed, he writes: 
"You will be buried in Scotland if you sell your 
mare and sit still. Keep her, and ride continually. 
Sit not still, at the peril of your soul and body ! " 
His own strength he explains as follows : "June 28, 
1774. — This being the first day of my seventy-sec- 
ond year, I was considering, How is this, that I 
find just the same strength as I did thirty years 
ago? that my sight is considerably better now and 
my nerves firmer than they were then? that I have 
none of the infirmities of old age, and have lost 
several I had in my youth? The grand cause is 
the good pleasure of God, who doeth whatsoever 
pleaseth him. The chief means are: (1) My con- 



170 Life of John Wesley. 

stantly rising at four for about fifty years ; (2) my 
generally preaching at five in the morning — one of 
the most healthy exercises in the world; (3) my 
never traveling less, by sea or land, than four 
thousand five hundred miles a year." 

A description of him by Benson, written about 
this time, is full of interest. "I was," says he, 
" constantly with him for a week. I had an oppor- 
tunity of examining narrowly his spirit and con- 
duct, and I am persuaded he is a none-such. I 
know 7 not his fellow, first for abilities natural and 
acquired, and secondly for his incomparable dili- 
gence in the application of those abilities to the 
best of employments. His lively fancy, tenacious 
memory, clear understanding, ready elocution, man- 
ly courage, indefatigable industry, really amaze me. 
I admire, but wish in vain to imitate, his diligent 
improvement of every moment of time ; his won- 
derful exactness even in little things ; the order and 
regularity wherewith he does and treats every thing 
he takes in hand, together with his quick dispatch 
of business, and calm, cheerful serenity of soul. I 
ought not to omit to mention — w T hat is manifest to 
all who know him — his resolution, w 7 hich no shocks 
of opposition can shake; his patience, w T hich no 
length of trials can weary; his zeal for the glory 
of God and the good of man, which no w T aters of 
persecution or tribulation have yet been able to 
quench. Happy man ! Long hast thou borne the 



Again Overcomes Sickness. 171 

burden and heat of the day, amidst the insults of 
foes and the base treachery of seeming friends ; but 
thou shalt rest from thy labors, and thy works shall 
follow thee!" He was now beginning, indeed, to 
be held in general respect, though at times violent 
persecution still assailed him, and on two occasions 
was presented with "the freedom of the city" at 
places where he preached. 

In 1775 he had a severe illness. At Castle Cand- 
fleld, in Ireland, he writes : " The rain came plenti- 
fully through the thatch into my lodging-room ; but 
I found no present inconvenience, and was not care- 
ful for the morrow." But six days afterward he 
was seized with a burning fever. He continued, 
nevertheless, to travel and preach almost as usual 
for three days or more, until at Lurgan he was 
obliged to succumb. A physician was called in, 
who told him he must rest. Wesley replied he 
could not, as he "had appointed to preach at sev- 
eral places, and must preach as long as he could 
speak." The doctor gave him medicine, and off 
Wesley went to Tandaragu, and then to a gentle- 
man's seat three miles beyond Lisburn, where nat- 
ure sunk. Strength, memory, and mind entirely 
failed him. For three days he lay more dead than 
alive. His tongue was black and swollen ; he was 
violently convulsed; for some time his pulse was 
not discernible. Hope was almost gone, when Jo- 
seph Bradford, his traveling companion, came with 



172 Life of John Wesley. 

a cap, and said, " Sir, you must take this." Wes- 
ley writes : " I thought, I will if I can swallow, to 
please him, for it will do me neither good nor 
harm. Immediately it set me a vomiting; my 
heart began to beat and my pulse to play again, 
and from that hour the extremity of the symptoms 
abated." Six days afterward, to the astonishment 
of his friends, and, as he says, " trusting in God," he 
set out for Dublin, and within a week was preach- 
ing as usual. Six years after, he wrote, referring 
to this illness: "From this time [1775] I have by 
the grace of God gone on in the same track — trav- 
eling between four and five thousand miles a year, 
and once in two years going through Great Britain 
and Ireland, which by the blessing of God I am as 
well able to do now 7 as I was twenty or thirty years 
ago." 

He knew T how to give advice. The following 
letter, addressed to John King, one of his preachers 
in America, is interesting: 

"My Dear Brother— Always take advice or re- 
proof as a favor. It is the surest mark of love. I 
advised you once and you took it as an affront, 
nevertheless I will do it once more. Scream no 
more, at the peril of your soul. God warns you 
now by me, whom he has set over you. Speak as 
earnestly as you can, but do not scream; speak with 
all your heart but with a moderate voice. It was 
said of our Lord, 'He shall not erv! The word 



Giving Advice. 



properly means, 'He shall not scream.'' Herein be 
a follower of me as I am of Christ. I often speak 
loud, often vehemently; but I never scream. I 
never strain myself. I dare not. I know it would 
be a sin against God and my own soul. Perhaps 
one reason why that good man Thomas Walsh, 
yea, and John Manners too, were in such griev- 
ous darkness before they died was because they 
shortened their own lives. 

"O John, pray for an advisable and teachable 
temper! By nature you are very far from it. You 
are stubborn and headstrong. Your last letter was 
written in a very wrong spirit. If you cannot take 
advice from others, surely you might take it from 
your affectionate brother, John Wesley." 



CHAPTER IX. 

Discipline — Works of Charity — Sunday-schools— Labors — 
Late Sleeping — Asbury — Silas Told — Fletcher — In Hol- 
land — A Novel. 

~TTT"ESLEY'S first act in 1776 was to join at 
V V a watch-night meeting with eighteen hun- 
dred London Methodists in renewing his covenant 
with God. The enforcement of discipline among 
the members next engaged his attention, saying: 
" If only six will promise to sin no more, leave only 
six in society. . . . They are no Methodists who 
will bear no restraints/' The lease on the old 
Foundry building was now drawing to a close, and 
it was determined to build " a new Foundry/' This 
Was the beginning of City Road Chapel, since so 
famous. April, 1777, he laid the corner-stone, and 
Sunday, November 1, 1778, he opened it with 
preaching. 

In 1777 Wesley assisted in organizing and drew 
up the rules for a " Strangers' Friend Society" in 
London, which gave rise to the general society of 
that name that still exists in England, and which 
has done unspeakable good. In 1779 "The Naval 
and Military Bible Society" for supplying soldiers 
and sailors with pocket Bibles was founded, twenty- 
(174) 



Interested in Sunday-schools. 175 

five years before the British and Foreign Bible So- 
ciety, and the oldest Bible society that now exists. 
And in 1782, seventeen years before the origin of 
the Religious Tract Society, Wesley instituted his 
" Tract Society" to distribute religious tracts among 
the poor. 

Sunday-schools were then another new 7 agency 
for good which he now adopted and developed. 
The first Methodist Sunday-school of which we 
have any account was that founded by Miss Han- 
nah Ball at High Wycombe, England, in 1769, at 
least four years before Robt. Raikes began his fa- 
mous Sunday-school at Gloucester. Indeed, it is 
stated that another Methodist young lady — Miss 
Cooke — afterward the wife of Samuel Bradburn, 
suggested the latter to Raikes in 1783. At first 
Sunday-schools were intended only for poor and 
neglected children who were not able to get school- 
ing in any other way. Paid teachers were em- 
ployed, and instruction given in reading and in the 
catechism. Some of the rules sound a little curi- 
ous now. "The children were required to come 
with clean hands and faces and hair combed, and 
with such clothing as they had. They were to stay 
from ten to twelve, then to go home; to return at 
one, and after a lesson to be conducted to church ; 
after church to repeat portions of the catechism ; to 
go home at five quietly, without playing in the 
Streets." Diligent scholars received rewards of 



176 Life of John Wesley. 

Bibles, Testaments, books, combs, shoes, and cloth- 
ing. The teachers were paid a shilling a day. 

Improvements rapidly followed. In these Wesley 
and the Methodists took a leading part. Wesley 
at once saw how useful they might be made. As 
early as 1784 he writes: "I find them springing up 
wherever I go. Perhaps God may have a deeper 
end therein than men are aware of. Who knows 
but some of our schools may become nurseries for 
Christians ?" The children of Church - members 
were brought in also. They began to teach " read- 
ing, w T riting, and religion." "Inquisitors" were 
appointed, whose office it was to spend Sunday aft- 
ernoon in visiting the schools to ascertain who were 
absent and then seek the absentees at their homes 
or in the public streets — a custom well worth fol- 
lowing now. Teachers were obtained to serve with- 
out pay. This the Methodists were the first to un- 
dertake. Singing was next made one of the prin- 
cipal features of the exercises — a most important 
step — and addresses, made from time to time by 
ministers, were introduced. 

The results were very great. At Leeds twenty-six 
schools, containing about two thousand scholars, were 
early established. At Bolton a school was started 
in 1785, and a few years after had about two thou- 
sand scholars. And the average attendance for the 
first thirty years of its existence was eighteen hun- 
dred. "The change in the manners and morals of 



Singing Children. 177 

the children was marvelous, and about a hundred 
of them sung like seraphs." Wesley visited it in 
1787, and writes: "From Mr. Peel's we went to 
Bolton. Here are eight hundred poor children 
taught in our Sunday-schools by about eighty mas- 
ters, who receive no pay but what they are to re- 
ceive from their great Master. About a hundred 
of them, part boys and part girls, are taught to 
sing, and they sung so true that all singing together 
there seemed to be but one voice. The house was 
thoroughly filled while I explained and applied the 
first commandment. In the evening, many of the 
children still hovering round the house, I desired 
forty or fifty to come in and sing ' Vital Spark of 
Heavenly Flame.' Although some of them were 
silent, not being able to sing for tears, yet the har- 
mony was such as, I believe, could not be equaled 
in the King's chapel." Again, in 1788, he visited 
there, and says: "About there I met between nine 
hundred and one thousand of the children belong- 
ing to our Sunday-schools. I never saw such a sight 
before. They were all exactly clean as well as 
plain in their apparel. All were serious and well- 
behaved. Many, both boys and girls, had as beau- 
tiful faces as I believe England or Europe can 
afford. When they all sung together, and none of 
them out of time, the melody was beyond that of 
any theater ; and what is best of all, many of them 
truly fear God, and some rejoice in his salvation. 
12 



1 78 Life of John Wesley. 

These are a pattern to all the town. Their usual 
diversion is to visit the poor that are sick (some- 
times six or eight or ten together), to exhort, com- 
fort, and pray with them. Frequently ten or more 
of them get together to sing and pray by them- 
selves, and are so earnestly engaged, alternately 
singing, praying, and crying, that they know not 
how to part." 

Such were some of the fruits of Methodism — 
fruits such as a genuine Christianity must always 
show. In 1778 he inaugurated another very im- 
portant enterprise in the publication of the Armin- 
ian Magazine. Wesley was the editor, and seem- 
ingly the principal contributor to the end of his 
life, publishing in it, among other valuable articles, 
a number of his best sermons. Besides this, he 
was continually issuing various other publications 
on religious and other subjects. Yet he was never 
flurried under all the various labors thus continu- 
ally devolving upon him. He writes: "You do 
not understand my manner of life. Though I am 
always in haste, I am never in a hurry ; because I 
never undertake any more work than I can go 
through with perfect calmness of spirit. ... I 
never spend less than three hours — frequently ten 
or twelve — in the day alone. So there are few per- 
sons in the kingdom who spend so many hours se- 
cluded from all company. Yet I find time to visit 
the sick and the poor; and I must do it if I believe 



"Intemperance in Sleep." 179 

the Bible." His secret was steady diligence in using 
every moment of time to the best advantage in his 
work. He thought lying in bed longer than was 
necessary — namely, longer than six or seven hours 
a day for men, and a little longer for women — a 
great evil; because: " 1. It hurts the body. Whether 
you sleep or no (and indeed it commonly prevents 
sleep), it as it were sod dens and parboils the flesh, 
and sows the seeds of numerous disorders, of all 
nervous diseases in particular, as weakness, faint- 
ness, lowness of spirits, nervous headaches, and 
consequent weakness of sight. 2. It hurts the 
mind ; it weakens the understanding ; it blunts the 
imagination; it weakens the memory; it dulls all 
the nobler affections ; it takes off the edge of the 
soul, impairs its vigor and firmness, and infuses a 
wrong softness, quite inconsistent with the charac- 
ter of a good soldier of Jesus Christ ; it grieves the 
Holy Spirit of God, and prevents, or at least lessens, 
those blessed influences which tend to make you 
not almost but altogether a Christian. " He says 
that "intemperance in sleep" is the cause — what 
very few people are aware of — why many peoj3le 
have not better health of body or of mind, and 
advises : " Lie down at ten o'clock and rise between 
five and six, whether you sleep or no. If your 
head aches in the day, bear it. In a week you will 
sleep sound." 

The increase of popery and the financial distress 



180 Life of John Wesley. 

of the country also occasioned long communications 
from him, the first being published in the Public 
Advertiser, the latter being addressed to Mr. Pitt, 
the Prime-minister. 

As a preacher he seems to have lost nothing of 
his power. At Macleley "both Mr. and Mrs. 
Fletcher complained that after all the pains they 
had taken they could not prevail on the people to 
join in society; no, nor even to meet in class." But 
Wesley, on visiting them, preached "two rousing 
sermons/' and "then desired those who w T ere will- 
ing to join together for Christian fellowship to call 
upon him and Mr. Fletcher after service. Ninety- 
four persons did so — about as many men as wom- 
en." 

He was still aided by devoted and able men. 
Besides those in Great Britain and Ireland, in 
America Francis Asbury trod closely in his foot- 
steps, if he did not surpass him in labors. Besides 
traveling and preaching, he made it a rule to read 
a hundred pages daily, and to spend three hours 
every day in prayer. Cabins of the most misera- 
ble description were his usual homes; his daily 
rides were often from thirty to fifty miles over 
mountains and swamps, through bridgeless rivers 
and pathless woods, his horse weary, and he him- 
self often cold, wet, and hungry. For forty-five 
years he made a tour of the States, for the most 
part on horseback, traveling never less than five 



Francis Asbury and Others. 181 

thousand, and often more than six thousand miles a 
year, frequently through uninhabited forests without 
a companion or a guide. Usually he preached at 
least once every week-day and thrice every Sunday. 
His custom was to pray with every family on whom 
he called in his wide wanderings. He presided 
over seven widely separated Conferences every 
year, and during the same space of time wrote to 
his preachers and his friends upon an average 
about a thousand letters. For his services he re- 
ceived sixty-four dollars and his traveling expenses. 
Early educational advantages he had none; but, 
notwithstanding all his difficulties, and despite fre- 
quently suffering from the maladies arising from 
his exposure to the malaria of a new country, he 
became proficient in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; 
acquainted with several branches of polite litera- 
ture, and kept abreast with the history of his times. 
He rode till he could ride no longer, and then 
might have been seen moving about on crutches, and 
helped in and out of his light spring-wagon in 
which he continued to pursue his wanderings till 
he died in Baltimore in 1816. Before he died he 
enjoined that no life of him should be published, 
and to the present his injunction has been substan- 
tially observed. 

Others in humble spheres were moved to unusual 
labors. There was Silas Told, the master of the 
Found rv school, who made it the oreat business of 



182 Life of John Wesley . 

his life to visit the London prisons and preach to 
debtors and malefactors until there was not a prison 
in the metropolis, nor scarcely a work-house within 
twelve miles round it, where he was not a frequent 
and welcome visitor. The scenes he witnessed were 
horrible, but for thirty years he continued his work. 
All sorts of criminals — papists and Protestants — 
clung to him in their anguish for counsel and con- 
solation. Even turnkeys, sheriffs, and hangmen, 
though opposing him at first, could not withstand 
his persistence, and were wont to weep at length 
with the prisoners under his exhortations and his 
prayers. He died when nearly seventy years old, 
and Wesley preached his funeral-sermon. 

One of Wesley's strongest supporters was now 
tottering on the edge of the grave. John Fletch- 
er had for some years been in feeble health. At 
the Conference in 1777 he entered emaciated, fee- 
ble, and ghost-like. In an instant the whole as- 
sembly stood up, and Wesley advanced to meet his 
almost seraphic friend. The apparently dying man 
began to address them, and soon one and all were 
bathed in tears. Wesley, fearing he was speaking 
too much, abruptly knelt at his side and began to 
pray. Down fell they all and joined in his peti- 
tion. The burden of their prayer was that their 
friend might be spared a little longer, until at last 
Wesley exclaimed with a confidence that thrilled 
every heart : " He shall not die, but live and de- 



Among the Hollanders. 183 

clare the works of the Lord ! " Xor did he die till 
eight years after. 

Wesley's eightieth birthday was spent in Hol- 
land. William Ferguson, one of his local preach- 
ers, had removed there, and by his earnest piety 
and labors attracted great attention, including that 
of many of the principal inhabitants. He spoke 
much of Wesley and distributed his sermons. A 
general wish was expressed to see him ; and Wesley, 
who for forty years had not indulged in a holiday 
from his incessant labors, passed over to Holland 
for seventeen days, " partly for relaxation and 
partly to indulge and enlarge his catholic spirit by 
forming an acquaintance with the truly pious in 
foreign nations/" His visit was eminently pleas- 
ant. Ministers of the churches welcomed him, and 
persons of high rank showed him honor. At Rot- 
terdam he preached twice in the Episcopal church 
to large congregations. At the Hague he met a 
company at the house of a lady of the first rank, 
and expounded to them the thirteenth chapter of 

First Corinthians, Captain M interpreting. 

He held a service on the passenger-boat between 
Haarlem and Amsterdam, singing and speaking to 
the people, Ferguson being the interpreter ; " and all 
our hearts," writes Wesley, " were strangely knit to- 
gether, so that when we came to Amsterdam they dis- 
missed us with abundance of blessings." So he passed 
the time. When he started for England agnin, "it 



184 Life of John Wesley. 

was with the utmost difficulty we could break from 
them. Two of our sisters, when we left the Hague, 
came twelve miles with us on the way; and one of 
our brethren of Amsterdam came to take leave of 
us to Utrecht, above thirty miles. I believe if my 
life be prolonged I shall pay them a visit at least 
every other year." 

His cheerful spirit had nothing forbidding in it. 
His piety had no gloom or sourness. He was not 
a fanatic, but a sincere and happy Christian. He 
had humor also, and could afford on occasions to 
indulge in a little pleasantry. An instance of this 
it is not inappropriate to quote. It is well known 
that in 17*80 he published a revised and abridged 
edition of a novel, entitled " The Fool of Quality." 
This was a source of great perplexity to one section 
of his admirers. John Easton, one of his itiner- 
ants, belonged to these. After John had very free- 
ly condemned his conduct to his face, Wesley replied : 
" Did you read < Vindex/ John ? " " Yes, sir." " Did 
you laugh, John?" "No, sir." "Did you read 
' Damon and Pythias/ John ? " " Yes, sir." " Did 
you cry, John?" "No, sir." Lifting up his eyes 
and clasping his hands, Wesley exclaimed: "O 
earth, earth, earth ! " 

Wesley was much refreshed by bis trip to Hol- 
land; but at Conference soon after, in the midst 
of the business, he was seized with alarming illness. 
His friends thought his end had come, and so did 



Dying, yet Loath to be Idle. 185 

he himself. For eighteen days he hung between 
life and death, when he found himself somewhat 
better. The same day, "being unwilling to be 
idle/' he spent an hour with the Bristol penitents ; 
the day following preached twice, and the day after 
that set out again on his gospel wanderings. 



CHAPTER X. 

Deed of Declaration— -Organization of the Church in Amer- 
ica— Ordination— Virtual Separation— Consecration of 
Coke — Ceaseless Labors— Dancing and Novel-reading — 
Proper Style of Preaching— A Beautiful Old Age. 

THE year 1784 has been called the grand cli- 
macteric year of Methodism. Two movements 
leading to the erection of Methodism into a dis- 
tinct and independent Church organization, both 
in England and America, took place at the Confer- 
ence of this year. The first was Wesley's execu- 
tion of his famous " Deed of Declaration/' by which 
he conveyed the possession and use of all his chap- 
els to one hundred of his preachers, designated by 
name, in trust to hold the same for the promotion 
of the gospel, and with power, after the death of 
himself and his brother Charles, to appoint the 
preachers w T ho should preach in them from year to 
year, etc. Before this the chapels had all been 
vested in him and Charles; but there w T as no pro- 
vision where their power should be lodged in case 
of their death, or how it should be exercised. To 
settle the matter, Wesley executed this deed — re- 
serving, however, to himself and his brother Charles, 
as a life estate therein, the power to make the ap- 
(136) 



Church in America Organized. 1.87 

point ments, etc., during the life of both or either of 
them. 

The deed created great excitement. There had 
been one hundred and ninety-two members of Con- 
ference, and of course the selection of the legal one 
hundred by Wesley made necessary the retirement 
of the other ninety-two from all the business of 
Conference. Active opposition was at once aroused 
against it, and consequences of the most serious 
kind threatened Methodism for awhile. Five of 
the principal opponents of the measure at length 
withdrew, and twenty-five more of the ninety-two 
eventually followed them. But the crisis passed, 
and Methodism in England became a permanent, 
organized, and distinct ecclesiastical body. The 
itinerancy was also preserved, and Methodism pre- 
vented from being merged into Congregationalism, 

Another momentous step taken was the episcopal 
organization of the Methodist societies in Amer- 
ica. Hitherto Wesley had refrained, for "many of 
reasons," from ordaining preachers himself. The 
Methodists in America had grown rapidly, until 
now they formed a large body of twelve thousand 
nine hundred and fifteen members, with forty-six 
circuits and eighty-three itinerant preachers, be- 
sides hundreds of local preachers. The clergymen 
of the Church of England, comparatively few r of 
whom had remained on the triumph of the colo- 
nies at the close of the war, were nearly all little 



188 Life of John Wesley. 

better than deists, and bitter persecutors of the 
Methodists. In consequence, the latter demanded 
the administration of the sacraments from their 
own preachers. Many had been for years without 
these sacred ordinances. In 1780 Mr. Wesley had 
applied to Bishop Lowth for ordination for some 
of his preachers in America, but w 7 as refused, the 
Bishop saying, " There are three ministers in that 
country already." Wesley answered him: "Sup- 
pose there were three-score of those missionaries in 
the country, could I in conscience recommend these 
souls to their care? Do they take care of their 
own souls? ... I know what manner of men the 
greater part of these are. They are men who have 
neither the power of religion nor the form; men 
that lay no claim to piety nor even to decency." 
At length the preachers in Virginia ordained them- 
selves, and began to administer the sacraments. 
Asbury, a year after, with great difficulty per- 
suaded them to suspend this till further advice 
could be had from Wesley, and w 7 rote Wesley tell- 
ing him of the greatness of the work, of the divis- 
ion that w T as taking place, and of the general un- 
easiness of the people respecting their unbaptized 
infants and their inability to partake of the Lord's 
Supper. The result w 7 as that Wesley, at the Con- 
ference of 1784, himself, in his select committee of 
consultation, first proposed the plan which was sub- 
sequently carried out, "The preachers were as- 



Coke, Whatcoat, and Vasey Appointed. 189 

tonished when this was mentioned, and to a man 
opposed it; but I saw plainly," writes John Pawson, 
who w T as present, " that it would be done, as Mr. Wes- 
ley's mind appeared to be quite made up." As we 
have already seen, of his power to ordain others Wes- 
ley had no doubt. He shocked Charles in 1780 by 
saying, " I verily believe I have as good a right to 
ordain as to administer the Lord's Supper;" and 
more than once he declared that to believe that 
none but episcopal ordination was valid " was an 
entire mistake." Coke, Whatcoat, and Vasey were 
appointed to America ; and in a short time after- 
ward he ordained Whatcoat and Vasey as elders 
and consecrated Coke, who was already a priest of 
the Church of England, "superintendent" of the 
work in America, and "as a fit person to preside 
over the flock of Christ." He also wrote to the Meth- 
odists of America telling them what he had done, 
and also that he had "prepared a liturgy little differ- 
ing from that of the Church of England (I think 
the best constituted national Church in the world), 
which I advise all the traveling preachers to use 
on the Lord's-day in all the congregations, reading 
the litany only on Wednesdays and Fridays, and 
praying extempore on all other days." He also, 
as is well known, sent them twenty-five articles of 
religion, revised from the thirty-nine articles of the 
Church of England. He gives as a reason for his 
action that the colonies being now independent 



190 Life of John Wesley. 

"the English Government has no authority over 
them, either civil or ecclesiastical;" and that while 
Congress and the various State Legislatures exer- 
cised a civil authority over them, "no one either 
exercises or claims any ecclesiastical authority at 
all;" and that he conceived himself "at full lib- 
erty, as I violate no order and invade no man's 
rights by appointing and sending laborers into the 
harvest." He adds that he prefers this to ordina- 
tion by the English bishops. " It has, indeed, been 
proposed to desire the English bishops to ordain 
part of our preachers for America ; but to this I ob- 
ject. (1) I desired the Bishop of London to ordain 
one, but could not prevail. (2) If they consented, 
we know the slowness of their proceedings ; but the 
matter admits of no delay. (3) If they would or- 
dain them now, they would expect to govern them ; 
and how grievously would this entangle us! (4) As 
our American brethren are now totally disentan- 
gled, both from the State and the English hier- 
archy, we dare not entangle them again, either with 
the one or the other. They are now at full liberty 
simply to follow the Scriptures and the primitive 
Church; and we judge it best that they should 
stand fast in that liberty wherewith God has so 
strangely set them free." 

These facts show conclusively that Wesley in- 
tended to found a distinct and entirely independent 
Church in America. There was really, upon the 



The Question of Separation. 191 

High-church theory, no Episcopal Church in Amer- 
ica. Only those who had been reared in the moth- 
er country, or had crossed over from America and 
been confirmed in Great Britain, were communi- 
cants ; for no bishop of the Church of England had 
thus far ever come to America. But further, the 
Church of England did not now have jurisdiction 
— it did not exist — in America, inasmuch as the 
laws of England, which alone established it, had 
now no authority there, while on the other hand no 
American Episcopal Church had yet been organ- 
ized. Thus, besides the prelatical theory of "no 
bishop, no Church," there was, as a matter of fact, 
then no Episcopal Church in America. 

Wesley's act of ordination in England was itself 
an act of separation of himself from the Estab- 
lished Church, though he constantly but very in- 
consistently protested it was not. But such was the 
view taken of it by many others, and great excite- 
ment arose. Charles Wesley was scandalized. He 
wrote to Wesley : " Lord Mansfield told me last 
year that ordination was separation. This my 
brother does not and will not see." Wesley wrote, 
in answer to Charles's assertion that he had been 
inconsistent inasmuch as he had uniformly refused to 
ordain any of his preachers in England : " For these 
forty years I have been in doubt concerning that 
question, What obedience is due to * heathenish priests 
and mitered infidels?' I have from time to time 



192 Life of John Wesley. 

proposed my doubt to the most pious and sensible 
clergymen I knew, but they gave me no satisfac- 
tion ; rather, they seemed to be puzzled as well as 
me. Obedience I always paid to the bishops, in 
obedience to the laws of the land ; but I cannot see 
that I am under any obligation to obey them fur- 
ther than those laws require. It is in obedience to 
those laws that I have never exercised in England 
the power which I believe God has given me. I 
firmly believe I am a scriptural episcopos as much 
as any man in England or in Europe ; for the unin- 
terrupted succession I know to be a fable which no 
man ever did or can prove." 

Still he contended that this did not involve a sep- 
aration from the Church of England ; that he was 
still a member of that Church, nor had any desire 
to separate from it. But he continued his ordina- 
nations, and a year afterward ordained three preach- 
ers in Scotland, where the Methodists were situated 
very much as in America. In 1786 he ordained 
two more for Scotland, one for Antigua, and one for 
Newfoundland; 1787, five others; 1788, two more 
in Scotland, and in 1789 two others. "But," says 
he, " this is no separation from the Church at all. 
Not from the Church of Scotland, for we were 
never connected therewith any further than we are 
now; nor from the Church of England, for this is 
not concerned in the steps which are taken in Scot- 
land. Whatever, then, is done in America or Scot- 



Providing for the Scattered Sheep. 193 

land is no separation from the Church of England. 
I have no thought of this ; I have many objections 
against it. It is a totally different case. ' But for 
all this, is it not possible there may be such a sepa- 
ration after you are dead?' Undoubtedly it is; but 
what I said at our first Conference, above forty years 
ago, I say still: I dare not omit doing what good I 
can while I live, for fear of evils that may follow 
when I am dead." 

In a word, Wesley preferred that those who were 
not already members of the national Church should 
remain without it, and even contemplated the sepa- 
ration of those already in it as an event possible in 
the future, though personally he wished to live out 
his days in the Church of England. Doubtless he 
was inconsistent, and Lord Mansfield's assertion was 
true that in ordaining he thereby actually separated 
himself from that Church ; but it is not surprising, 
in view of the life-long associations and sympathies 
of Wesley with his mother Church, that he could 
not bring himself to admit the fact. But his un- 
swerving devotion to duty and the cause of human- 
ity and of Christ led him, notwithstanding, to still 
provide for the sheep scattered abroad. 

This he did toward the last by relaxing also in 
various other respects. The demand for services in 
the chapels at the hours when they were being held 
in the churches also grew strong, and at last he al- 
lowed it, u 'on condition that divine service never be 
13 



194 Life of John Wesley. 

performed iri the church hours when the sacrament 
is administered in the parish church where the 
preaching-house is situated." In 1783 he published 
a 12mo volume of four hundred and thirty pages — 
"The Sunday Service of the Methodists "—in real- 
ity an altered edition of the Prayer-book, in which 
material alterations are made in the verbiage, in 
the forms, in the ritual, and even in the articles of 
religion. Everywhere the word " priest" is left out 
and "elder" substituted. The order of confirma- 
tion is omitted, as also the form of absolution and 
some others; and in lieu of the three forms in the 
Prayer-book for ordaining deacons, priests, and bish- 
ops, Wesley gives three forms for "ordaining super- 
intendents, elders, and deacons." 

His end was now hastening on ; but he hastened 
no less in the King's business. At eighty-four we 
find him for five days traversing the streets of Lon- 
don to obtain subscriptions for the relief of poor 
members of his London society. His Arminian 
Magazine and other publications are issued reg- 
ularly, and are as racy and able as ever. His 
traveling, visiting, and preaching are as laborious 
as forty years before. We find him at Birming- 
ham, after traveling by stage-coach for nineteen 
hours, immediately entering into the chapel and 
preaching ; the next day off again before five o'clock 
in the morning, traveling nearly eleven hours, and 
preaching again at night at Gloucester. On the 



Youthful at Eighty-Jour. 195 

next morning he set out again at two o'clock, trav- 
eled till half-past four in the afternoon, and preached 
at Salisbury in the evening. Next morning at four 
he took chaise to Southampton, where he preached 
the same day and the next. At one time he makes 
a seven months' tour ; at another, five months'. At 
another time he devotes himself to writing a book 
he was anxious to finish. He says, September 26 : 
" To this I dedicated all the time I could spare, till 
November, from five in the morning till eight at 
night. These are my studying hours. I cannot 
write longer in the day without hurting my eyes." 
He still went through storms and snows as if he 
were a strong young man. His mind, and heart 
too, still seemed to retain all the elasticity of his 
youth, and his interest in every thing about him 
as fresh as ever. He expresses himself on the sub- 
ject of dancing and novel-reading, condemning the 
first as "leading young women to numberless evils," 
and " recommending very few r novels to young per- 
sons, for fear they should be desirous of more," and 
saying, " The want of novels may be more than sup- 
plied by well-chosen history." He publishes his 
sermon on " Dress," and shows that the natural re- 
sults of fine dress are pride, vanity, anger, and lust. 
Another sermon on the "More Excellent Way" 
enforces his views on early rising, business, food, 
conversation, amusements, and money. On the last 
he dwells with especial emphasis, and terribly de- 



196 Life of John Wesley. 

nounces the laying up treasures upon earth. Two 
other sermons published in 1787 — one on " Christian 
Courtesy," the other on "Former Times Better than 
These " — are remarkable productions. He speaks of 
his style of preaching : " Is there need to apologize 
to sensible persons for the plainness of my style, 
. . . which I use from choice, not necessity? I 
could, even now, w 7 rite as floridly and rhetorically 
as even the admired Dr. B ; but I dare not, be- 
cause I seek the honor that cometh from God only. 
What is the praise of man to me, that have one foot 
in the grave and am stepping in the land whence I 
shall not return ? Therefore I dare no more write 
in a fine style than wear a fine coat. But, were it 
otherwise, had I time to spare, I should still write 
just as I do ; I should purposely decline what many 
admire — a highly ornamental style. I cannot ad- 
mire French oratory ; I despise it from my heart. 
. . . God himself has told us how to speak, both as 
to the matter and the manner. 'If any man speak 
in the name of God, let him speak as the oracles of 
God;' and if he would imitate any part of these 
above the rest, let it be the First Epistle of St. 
John. This is the style — the most excellent style 
— for every gospel preacher." 

He attends the classes, though it was even now 
an irksome task. He writes: "1787, November 
19. — I began the unpleasing work of visiting the 
classes. I still continue to do this in London and 



In the Deepest Winter of Age. 197 

Bristol, as well as in Cork and Dublin." He speaks 
of the itinerant system of Methodism : " It must 
not be altered till I am removed, and I hope it will 
remain till our Lord comes to reign upon earth." 
He meets Howard, the great philanthropist, who 
writes : " I was encouraged by him to go on vigo- 
rously with my own designs. I saw in him how 
much a single man might achieve by zeal and per- 
severance, . . . and I determined I would pursue 
my work with more alacrity than ever." He gives 
us his experience: "February 24, 1786. — I do not 
remember to have heard or read any thing like my 
own experience. Almost ever since I can remem- 
ber I have been led on in a peculiar way. I go on 
in an even line, being very little raised at one time 
or depressed at another. ... I am very rarely led 
by impressions, but generally by reason and by 
Scripture. I see abundantly more than I feel. I 
want to feel more love and zeal for God." 

Three years later, when Wesley was eighty-six 
years of age, Mr. Alexander Knox visited him, and 
writes : " I was delighted to find his cheerfulness in 
no respect abated. It was too obvious that his 
bodily frame was sinking ; but his spirit was as alert 
as ever, and he was little less the life of the com- 
pany he happened to be in than he had been three 
and twenty years before, when I first knew him. 
Such unclouded sunshine of the breast, in the deep- 
est winter of age and on the felt verge of eternity, 



1 98 Life of John Wesley. 

bespoke a mind whose recollections were as unsul- 
lied as its present sensations were serene." An in- 
cident that happened about the same time illustrates 
his bright frame of mind. At a large party of 
friends who were assembled to meet him at dinner, 
w T hile the meal w T as in progress he suddenly laid 
down his knife and fork, clasped his hands, and 
lifted up his eyes as in the attitude of prayer and 
praise. In an instant all were silent, and Wesley 
gave out and sung with great animation : 

"And can we forget, 

In tasting our meat, 
The angelical food which erelong we shall eat, 

When enrolled with the blest 

In glory we rest, 
And forever sit down at the heavenly feast?" 

The happy old man, then so near the gates of 
heaven, quietly resumed his knife and fork. 



CHAPTER XI. 

The Better Land in View — Fletcher's Death — Charles 
Wesley's Death — Beginning of the End — Dangers and 
Duty of the Bich — Wesley's Example — Last Sermons? 
— Last Illness — "The Clouds Drop Fatness" — Wesley 
Bests from his Labors. 

IT was no wonder that Wesley's thoughts now 
often turned to the better land. There he was 
soon at last to rest. There almost all of his oldest 
and best loved friends had preceded him. Vincent 
Perronet and John Fletcher both departed in 1785. 
The former was in the ninety-second year of his 
age. Wesley was in Ireland at the time, and 
Charles Wesley buried him. For the last twenty 
years he had enjoyed such a degree of fellowship 
wdth God as rarely is experienced by man in this 
world. He lived chiefly in his library, but when 
he mingled wdth his friends was always cheerful. 
His favorite study was the fulfillment of prophecy, 
and the second coming and visible reign of Christ 
on earth. 

Fletcher died in triumphant joy. He had on 
the previous Sunday preached and administered the 
Lord's Supper in his parish church. Among the 
last words which he addressed to his loved wife 
were : " O Poll v, my dear Polly, God is love ! Shout, 

(199) 



200 Life of John Wesley. 

shout aloud ! I want a gust of praise to go to the 
ends of the earth ! " Wesley was again absent in 
the West of England, and unable either to see him 
or to attend his funeral ; but as soon as possible he 
published a sermon in memory of him, taking the 
same text as Charles had taken at the death of 
Perronet: "Mark the perfect man, and behold the 
upright; for the end of that man is peace." He 
says: "I was intimately acquainted with him for 
above thirty years. I conversed with him morn- 
ing, noon, and night without the least reserve dur- 
ing a journey of many hundred miles, and in all 
that time I never heard him speak one improper 
word, nor saw him do an improper action. Many 
exemplary men have I known, holy in heart and 
life, within four-score years, but one equal to him I 
have not known — one so inwardly and outwardly 
devoted to God. So unblamable a character I have 
not found, either in Europe or in America ; and I 
scarce expect to find such another on this side of 
eternity." 

Charles Wesley was still left. The two brothers 
had often differed in their views, but had ever been 
united as one man in affection, in labors, ^and in 
manner of life. But now he too began to decline, 
and early in 1788 it appeared evident that he must 
soon die. Wesley clung to the hope, however, that 
he might still live, and wrote him repeatedly urg- 
ing him to take such measures as were advisable to 



His Brother Charles Dies, 201 

his recovery, and expressing his own deep concern 
for him. He urges him especially to "go out at 
least an hour a day. I would not blame you if it 
were two or three. Never mind expense; I can 
make that up. You shall not die to save charges." 
Afterward he wrote to Charles's daughter, Sally, 
and to Samuel Bradburn, then stationed in Lon- 
don, suggesting various remedies that might be of 
use, and especially that all should join in fervent 
supplications in behalf of his brother. All was in 
vain, and on March 29, 1788, Charles Wesley died 
at the very moment, as was afterward ascertained, 
that his brother John and the congregation were 
singing at Shropshire : 

Come, let us join our friends above, 
That have obtained the prize. 

Wesley did not know of his death till April 4th, 
the day before the burial — through the misdirection 
of the letter which had been sent to inform him of 
the event — and was unable to get to the funeral. 
His sorrow was deep, though he said little about it. 
A fortnight afterward, when at Bolton, he attempt- 
ed to give out, as his second hymn, the one begin- 
ning — 

Come, O thou Traveler unknown ; 

but when he came to the words, 

My company before is gone, 
And I am left alone with thee, 



202 Life of John Wesley. 

the bereaved old man sunk beneath emotion that 
was uncontrollable, burst into a flood of tears, and 
sat down in the pulpit and hid his face with his 
hands. The crowded congregation were touched 
deeply at the sight, singing ceased, and tears filled 
the eyes of all. At length Wesley recovered him- 
self, rose again, and went through a service which 
was never forgotten by those who were present. 

The following is the obituary, published in the 
Conference Minutes: 

•'Mr. Charles Wesley, who, after spending 
four-score years with much sorrow and pain, quietly 
retired into Abraham's bosom. He had no disease ; 
but after a gradual decay of some months, 

The weary wheels of life stood still at last. 

His least praise was his talent for poetry ; although 
Dr. Watts did not scruple to say that that single 
poem, 'Wrestling Jacob/ was worth all the verses 
he himself had written." 

Wesley was to tarry three years longer. He now 
himself began to feel some tokens of decline. He 
writes, just before Charles's death: "I find, by an 
increase of years, (1) less activity — I walk slower, 
particularly uphill ; (2) my memory is not so quick ; 
(3) I cannot read so well by candle-light; but I bless 
God that all my other powers of body and mind re- 
main just what they were." Still his labors did not 
cease to the last. AVe have already seen some ac- 



Yet in Labors Abundant. 203 

count of his work up to 1789. The same spirit and 
energy continued to manifest themselves in his own 
activity, and the same solicitude and watchfulness for 
the welfare of his beloved Zion. At the Conference 
of 1790, the last that he attended, he made further 
regulations in regard to the work. Charles At- 
more describes him at this time as follows: "Mr. 
Wesley appeared very feeble; his eyesight had 
failed so much that he could not see to give out his 
hymns, yet his voice was strong, his spirit remark- 
ably lively, and the powers of his mind and his 
love toward his fellow-creatures were as bright and 
ardent as ever/' As soon as the Conference was 
over he set out again on his evangelistic labors, and 
spent the next three weeks in Wales ; thence back 
again to Bristol, where he spent a month; thence 
to London, and thence to Eye, to Colchester, to 
Yarmouth, and various other places, traveling and 
preaching as incessantly as ever. Meantime he 
continues an unceasing guardianship over every in- 
terest of his Master's kingdom. He gives direc- 
tions as to prayer-meetings, that none should be 
continued later than nine o'clock, particularly on 
Sunday, etc. He "does not like dividing circuits." 
He exhorts the people to give attention to reading : 
" It cannot be that the people should grow in grace 
unless they give themselves to reading. A reading 
people will always be a knowing people. A people 
who talk much will know little. Press this upon 






204 Life of John Wesley. 

them with all your might, and you will soon see 
the fruit of your labors." He fears there is dan- 
ger from lukewarmness among the preachers, and 
writes to Alexander Mather: "No, Aleck, no; the 
danger of ruin to Methodism does not lie here. It 
springs from quite a different quarter. Our preach- 
ers are many of them fallen. They are not spirit- 
ual ; they are not alive to God. They are soft, en- 
ervated, fearful of shame, toil, hardship. They 
have not the spirit w T hich God gave to Thomas Lee 
at Pateley Bridge, or to you at Boston. Give me 
one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin 
and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw 
whether they be clergymen or laymen, such alone 
wdll shake the gates of hell and set up the king- 
dom of heaven upon earth." 

The preaching of perfection he still regarded as 
of the utmost importance. He says: "This doc- 
trine is the grand deposition which God has lodged 
with the people called Methodists ; and for the sake 
of propagating this chiefly he appeared to have 
raised them up." In this connection another ex- 
tract is worth quoting: "To retain the grace of 
God is much more than to gain it. Hardly one in 
three does this ; and this should be strongly and ex- 
plicitly urged on all who have tasted of perfect love." 

One of the subjects he most frequently and 
strongly dwelt upon in his last days was the danger 
of rich men, and their duty to be liberal. In 1789, 



The Grace of Liberality. 205 

in addition to the utterances on the same theme he 
had already given to the world, he published his 
sermon on the parable of the rich man and Laza- 
rus, in which he addresses rich Methodists: "O 
how pitiable is your condition ! And who is able 
to help you? You need more plain dealing than 
any men in the world, and you meet with less. For 
how few dare to speak as plain to you as they would 
to one of your servants ! . . . O that God would give 
me acceptable words, and cause them to sink deep 
into your hearts! Many of you have known me 
long — well-nigh from your infancy. You have 
frequently helped me when I stood in need. May 
I not say you loved me? But now the time of our 
parting is at hand ; my feet are just stumbling upon 
the dark mountains. I would leave one word with 
you before I go hence, and you may remember it 
when I am no more seen. O let your heart be 
whole with God ! Seek your happiness in him and 
him alone. Beware that you cleave not to the dust ! 
This earth is not your place. See that you use this 
world as not abusing it; use the world and enjoy 
God. Sit as loose to all things here below as if 
you were a poor beggar. Be a good steward of the 
manifold gifts of God." 

Again, in February, 1790, he wrote a sermon on 
"The Eich Fool;" in July afterward, one on Jere- 
miah viii. 22, on " Why has Christianity done so 
little good in the world?" in which he gives it as 



206 Life of John Wesley. 

one great obstacle, the refusal of professing Chris- 
tians to give as they should. And again he wrote 
another sermon, September 21, on the text, "If 
riches increase, set not your heart upon them." In 
these last sermons he again and again enforces the 
duty of giving in the most solemn and intensely 
anxious manner. "O that God would enable me 
once more," says he, " before I go hence and am no 
more seen, to lift up my voice like a trumpet to 
those who gain and save all they can, but do not 
give all they can. Ye are the men, some of the 
chief men, who continually grieve the Holy Spirit 
of God, and in a great measure stop his gracious 
influence from descending on our assemblies. Many 
of your brethren, beloved of God, have not food 
to eat; they have not raiment to put on; they have 
not a place where to lay their head. And why are 
they thus distressed? Because you impiously, un- 
justly, and cruelly detain from them what your 
Master and theirs lodges in your hands on purpose 
to supply their wants. In the name of God, what 
are you doing? Do you neither fear God nor re- 
gard man? Why do you not deal your bread to 
the hungry and cover the naked with a garment? 
Have you laid out in your own costly apparel what 
would have answered both these intentions? . . . 
This idle expense has no approbation either from 
God or your own conscience. But you say you 
can afford it. be ashamed to take such miser- 



Gain, Save, Give All You Can. 207 

able nonsense into your mouths ! Never more ut- 
ter such stupid cant, such palpable absurdity ! Can 
any steward afford to be an arrant knave, to waste 
his lord's goods? Can any servant afford to lay out 
his master's money any otherwise than his master ap- 
points him? So far from it that wmoever does this 
ought to be excluded from a Christian society. I am 
distressed. I know not w 7 hat to do. . . . Is there no 
means to hinder riches destroying the religion of 
those that possess them? I can see only one possible 
way ; find out another who can. Do you gain all you 
can and save all you can? Then you must, in the 
nature of things, grow 7 rich. Then, if you have 
any desire to escape the damnation of hell, give all 
you can; otherwise I can have no more hope of 
your salvation than for that of Judas Iscariot. I call 
God to record upon my soul that I advise no more 
than I practice. I do, blessed be God, gain and 
save and give all I can ; and so, I trust in God, I shall 
do while the breath of God is in my nostrils. But 
what then ? I count all things but loss for the excel- 
lency of the knowledge of Jesus my Lord. Still, 

I give up every plea beside; 

Lord, I am damned, but thou hast died." 

And once again, in a sermon written September 
25, 1789, he had thus adverted to one especial dan- 
ger attending the love of money : " How T great is 
the darkness of that execrable wretch (I can give 
him no better title, be he rich or poor) who will 



208 Life of John Wesley. 

sell his own child to the devil ; who will barter her 
own eternal happiness for any quantity of gold or 
silver! What a monster would any man be ac- 
counted who devoured the flesh of his own off- 
spring ! And is he not as great a monster who, by 
his own act and deed, gives her to be devoured by 
that roaring lion? — as he certainly does (so far as 
is in his power) who marries her to an ungodly 
man. ' But he is rich ; he has £10,000/ What if 
it were £100,000? The more the worse; the less 
probability will she have of escaping the damna- 
tion of hell. With what face wilt thou look upon 
her when she tells thee in the realms below T : ' Thou 
hast plunged me into this place of torment. Hadst 
thou given me to a good man, however poor, I 
might now have been in Abraham's bosom.' . . . 
Man, woman, think what you are about. Dare 
you also sell your child to the devil? You un- 
doubtedly do this (as far as in you lies) when you 
marry a son or a daughter to a child of the devil, 
though it be one that wallows in gold and silver. 
O take warning in time! Beware of the gilded 
bait! Death and hell are hid beneath. Prefer 
grace before gold and precious stones; glory in 
heaven to riches on earth. If you do not, you are 
wcrse than the very Canaanites. They only made 
their children pass through the fire to Moloch ; you 
make yours pass into the fire that never shall be 
quenched, and to stay in it forever." 



A Constant Giver. 209 

It was no idle boast of Wesley's that what he 
advised in this respect he practiced. He left no 
money at his death except what was on his person 
or in his bureau-drawer at London, though he had 
gained large sums from the sale of his books. His 
biographer, Mr. Moore, writes : " Mr. Wesley's ac- 
counts lie before me, and his expenses are noted 
with the greatest exactness. Every penny is re- 
corded, and I am persuaded the supposed £30,000 
[the amount another had estimated he had given 
away in his life-time] might be increased several 
thousand more." And this too without spending 
any thing scarcely upon himself. From his ac- 
count-book, for instance, we find that in 1782 he 
received £361 19s. into his own hands. Of this he 
spent £5 19s. for clothes, and gave all the rest away 
himself; and besides directed his book agent, John 
Atlay, to give away a further sum of £237 13s. — 
making £593 13s. for the year. In 1783 he gave 
away in the same way £832 Is. 6d. ; in 1784, £534 
17s. 6d.; in 1785, £851 12s.; in 1786, £738 5s.; in 
1787, including his traveling expenses, £961 4s. ; 
in 1788, £738 4s. At the end of his accounts for 
1789 he writes: "I have given this year by myself 
£206; by George Whitefield, £560; traveling, £60. 
But I can be accurate no [the sentence is unfin- 
ished]. 'Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.' " 

The faithful steward now drew near to render up 
his account. October 6, 1790, at Eye, beneath an 
14 



210 Life of John Wesley, 

ash-tree in the church-yard, he preached for the 
last time in the open air from "the kingdom of 
God is at hand/' etc. An eye-witness writes: "The 
word was attended with mighty power, and the 
tears of the people flowed in torrents." On the 
evening of the same clay he preached again at Rye. 
At Colchester soon after, he found the society " less- 
ened and cold enough" through the interference of 
a reverend gentleman who had used his utmost en- 
deavors, and even made use of gifts and bribes to 
break up the Methodist society there. Wesley was 
annoyed, and said in his sermon: "I understand 
there is a sheep-stealer in Colchester who takes both 
sheep and lambs from his neighbor's fold at will. 
Now, I charge that man to desist, or to meet me 
and answer for his deeds at the bar of God in the 
day of judgment." The guilty man was present ; 
and his subsequent conduct showed that he was not 
a forgetful hearer. One of his hearers thus de- 
scribes his appearance: " He stood in a w T ide pul- 
pit, and on each side of him stood a minister, and 
the two held him up, having their hands under his 
arm-pits. His feeble voice was scarcely audible ; 
but his reverend countenance, especially his long, 
white locks, formed a picture never to be forgotten. 
There was a vast crowd of lovers and admirers. 
It was for the most part a pantomime, but the pan- 
tomime went to the heart. Of the kind I never 
saw any thing comparable to it in after life." Still 



In His Loved Employ to the Last 21 1 

lie traveled and preached every day. At Yar- 
mouth the poet Crabbe heard him, and was greatly 
struck with the reverend appearance of the aged 
preacher, with his cheerful air, and the beautiful 
cadence he gave to some lines that he quoted ; and 
after the sermon was introduced to him, and was 
received with benevolent politeness. 

His last entry in his published journal is as fol- 
lows : 

" Sunday, October 24. — I explained to a numer- 
ous congregation in Spitalfield's church 'the whole 
armor of God.' St. Paul, Shadwells, was still more 
crowded in the afternoon while I enforced that im- 
portant truth, 'One thing is needful;' and I hope 
many even then resolved to choose the better part." 

So he ended the year 1790. The new year saw him 
still laboring in his loved employ, though "in age 
and feebleness extreme." Besides preaching, he wrote 
various letters — letters of consolation to bereaved 
persons ; of direction for the work to his preachers ; 
of instruction to inquiring Christians. Among 
them was one to Ezekiel Cooper, one of his preach- 
ers in America, exhorting him to " lose no opportu- 
nity of declaring to all men that the Methodists 
are one people in all the world." The last sermon 
he wrote was about six weeks before his death, on 
"Faith the evidence of things not seen," though 
another, on " Life like a dream," was being printed 
on the very day when his corpse lay in City Road 



212 Life of John Wesley. 

Chapel. In both he muses deeply upon the unseen 
and spiritual world into which he felt he must soon 
enter. Imagining himself already a disembodied 
spirit, he thus soliloquizes: "Now that your eyes 
are open, see how inexpressibly different are all the 
things that are now around you! What a differ- 
ence do you perceive in yourself! Where is your 
body? your house of clay? Where are your limbs? 
your hands? your feet? your head? There they 
lie — cold, insensible ! What a change is in the im- 
mortal spirit ! " And again : " How will this mate- 
rial universe appear to a disembodied spirit? Who 
can tell whether any of these objects that now sur- 
round us will appear the same as they do now? 
What astonishing scenes will then discover them- 
selves to our newly opening senses! . . . Above all, 
the moment we step into eternity shall we not feel 
ourselves swallowed up of Him who is in this and 
every place, who filleth heaven and earth?" 

He was soon to know. On Thursday, February 
17, 1791, he preached at Lambeth. Keturning 
home, he seemed unwell, and said he had taken 
cold ; but on Friday read and wrote as usual, and 
preached at Chelsea in the evening on the text, 
"The king's business requireth haste;" but once or 
twice was compelled to stop and rest. Saturday 
he spent principally in reading and writing. On 
Sunday he rose at his usual hour, but had to lie 
down again at seven o'clock, and slept above three 



Nearing the Other Shore. 213 

hours; and in the afternoon he had to go to bed 
again and sleep. On Monday he seemed better, 
and went out to dine, according to engagement; 
and on Tuesday resumed his usual work, preaching 
at City Road Chapel from the text, " We through 
the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by 
faith;" after which he met the leaders. On 
Wednesday he rose at four o'clock and rode eight- 
een miles to Leatherhead, where he preached for 
the last time, in the dining-room of a magistrate, 
from the words, " Seek ye the Lord, while he may 
be found; call upon, him while he is near." The 
next day he rose again at. four, and passed the day 
Avith his old friend Mr. Wolff, at Balham, where 
he was cheerful, and seemed nearly as well as usual, 
and wrote his last letter — one addressed to Mr. 
"Wilberforce, encouraging him to go on with his 
work in opposition to slavery. Next day he came 
home, and became so unwell that the doctor was 
sent for. February 26, 27, and 28, his strength 
gradually declined. Much of the time he slept; 
at intervals he would awake, and could be heard 
saying in a low, distinct voice: "Christ is all! he is 
all!" "There is no way into the holiest but by 
the blood of Jesus ;" " Ye know the grace of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for 
your sake he became poor, that ye through his pov- 
erty might become rich," etc.; "That is the foun- 
dation, the only foundation; there is no other!" 



214 Life of John Wesley. 

and such like expressions. On March 1, after a 
restless night, being asked if he were in pain, he 
said "No," and began singing: 

"All glory to God in the sky, 

And peace upon earth be restored!" 

But after singing two stanzas his strength farled. 
" I want to write," said he. A pen was put in his 
hand, but he could not use it. "Let me write for 
you," said Miss Ritchie; "tell me what you wish 
to say." "Nothing," he replied, "but that God is 
with us." "I will get up," said he; and while his 
friends were arranging his clothes, he again sung, 
"I'll praise my Maker while I've breath," etc., 
through two stanzas. Once more seated in his 
chair, he said in a weak voice: "Lord, thou givest 
strength to those that can speak, and to those that 
cannot. Speak, Lord, to all our hearts, and let 
them know that thou loosest tongues;" and again 
began to sing his last song on earth : 

" To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
Who sweetly all agree." 

But here his voice failed, and after gasping for 
breath he said: "Now we have done; let us all 
go." Full of happiness, but utterly exhausted, he 
was put to bed ; when, after a short but sweet sleep, 
he opened his eyes and said to the weeping friends 
around, "Pray and praise;" and of course they 
complied. Then he gave directions about his fu- 






His Triumphant Death, 215 

neral, and again called out, " Pray and praise ! " and 
again they prayed and sung praises to God. They 
then again apjDroached his bedside, when he said 
with the utmost placidity, " Farewell, farewell ! " 
He tried to speak, but they could not make out 
what he said, except that he wanted his sermon on 
"The love of God to fallen man" to be "scattered 
abroad and given to everybody." Seeing they 
could not understand him, he paused; and then 
summoning all his strength exclaimed, in a tone 
well-nigh supernatural, "The best of all is, God ts 
with us!" And then after another pause, lifting 
his arm in grateful triumph, he reiterated, " The 
best of all is, God is with us ! " 

Once more nature was exhausted. His sight 
now was so nearly gone that he was unable to rec- 
ognize the features of those by his bedside. " Who 
are these?" he asked. "Sir," said Mr. Rogers, " we 
are come to rejoice with you; you are going to re- 
ceive your crown." "This is the Lord's doing, 
and it is marvelous in our eyes," replied Wesley. 
Charles's widow having come to see him, he affec- 
tionately tried to kiss her, and remarked, "He 
giveth his servants rest." She wet his lips, when 
he repeated his usual thanksgiving after meals: 
" We thank thee, Lord, for these and all thy 
mercies. Bless the Church and king, and grant us 
truth and peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, 
forever and ever ! " Then pausing a little, he cried, 



216 Life of Jul i) i Wesley. 

"The clouds drop fatness!" And after another 
pause: "The Lord of hosts is with us! the God of 
Jacob is our refuge! Pray and praise!" And 
again his friends fell on their knees. 

Scores of times during the night he repeated the 
words, "I'll praise! I'll praise!" but could say 
nothing more. Next morning a few minutes be- 
fore ten, Joseph Bradford, so long his faithful friend 
and traveling companion, prayed with him. " Fare- 
well!" cried Wesley — the last words he uttered — 
and then, w T hile Bradford was saying, "Lift up 
your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye ever- 
lasting doors, and this heir of glory shall come in! " 
Wesley gathered up his feet in the presence of his 
brethren, and without a groan or a sigh was gone. 
He died about ten o'clock a.m. Wednesday, March 
2, 1791. 

As soon as he was dead, his friends stood about 
his corpse — as Wesley, w r ith his brothers and sisters, 
himself had done about their mother's body — and 
sung: 

" Waiting to receive their spirit, 
Lo! the Saviour stands above; 
Shows the purchase of his merit, 
Reaches out the crown of love." 

And then they knelt down and prayed that his man- 
tle might rest upon his followers. His remains 
were interred behind the chapel in City Road on 
the 9th of March, at 5 o'clock a.m. 



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